Credit: Imago

Daniel Davis

Wed 1 April 2026 11:40, UK

Conor Gallagher appears to be in real trouble already at Tottenham Hotspur.

The appointment of Roberto De Zerbi as the club’s new head coach on a five-year contract will signal a bold new era in N17, provided they can avoid Premier League relegation.

Spurs splashed out £35million to snap up Gallagher from Atletico Madrid in January, but with every passing match, that deal looks more and more like a panic buy.

The midfielder has had next to no impact and rightly found himself on the bench in each of the last four matches. The bottom line is that he can also have absolutely no complaints.

De Zerbi takes charge of his first Tottenham match against Sunderland on April 12, and judging from Gallagher’s current slump, he will be lucky to see any minutes at all.

Conor Gallagher outclassed by Archie Gray

On the other hand, Archie Gray, who will compete with Gallagher for a spot in the Italian’s starting XI, delivered an outstanding performance for England Under-21s against Moldova.

Watching on from a distance, Gallagher will have had his head in his hands.

He has made just 11 appearances for Spurs, failing to score and registering just one assist. In the Premier League, he has an 80.5 pass success rate, but has not stamped his authority.

While his dribble success stands at 62.5 per cent, Gallagher simply hasn’t done enough to arrest Spurs’ concerning slump, while his 45.1 per cent duel win rate is poor.

Having taken just 364 top-flight touches, he places in the bottom 10 per cent in comparison to every other midfielder in the league, confirming that too many games are passing him by.

In contrast, Gray is shining and deserves plenty of minutes under De Zerbi.

Only one of the two midfielders will likely start in a double pivot, with the new head coach known to favour a ball-playing operator alongside a more defensive-minded team-mate.

Once again, it raises questions over why Tottenham signed Gallagher at all.

Gray steals the show for England

Gray deserves much more credit for his performances this season, which have sadly gone under the radar in light of the wider failings around him at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

However, he was head and shoulders above his U-21 peers at Carrow Road on Tuesday and capped off a superb display with a goal, smashing into the roof of the net on 61 minutes.

With a 94 per cent pass accuracy, the 20-year-old stole the show, while he completed 72 passes and three of his five attempted long balls, helping the Young Lions stay in control.

He also did his part defensively, recovering 10 balls and winning three of four ground duels.

Clearly, then, he is in pole position to get the nod from De Zerbi, which raises serious questions over Gallagher’s role – both now and beyond the summer.