With a new midfielder joining the ranks at Tottenham, we dug into Conor Gallagher’s statistics for last season and compared it to his teammates in N17.
In a surprising turn of events, Conor Gallagher looks set to join Spurs this month in a £35m deal. The former Chelsea man obviously knows the Premier League inside out, but what can he actually offer the Lilywhites?
We know Thomas Frank wanted a new midfielder at Tottenham, with a number of high-profile and pretty expensive names linked to the club.
In the end, a relatively cheap deal for Gallagher has been arranged. Is he worth the money, though?
- READ MORE: Tottenham shirt numbers Conor Gallagher could claim after £35m switch, including a big one
Conor Gallagher’s creativity surpasses most Tottenham midfielders
It seems most Spurs fans don’t think Gallagher is quite what the club needs right now, and they may have a point.
However, there is one area that Gallagher really excels in when we look at his stats on FBRef for 2024/25 compared to his new colleagues at Tottenham.
Gallagher’s return of six goal contributions last season (three goals, three assists) is higher than Pape Sarr, Lucas Bergvall, Rodrigo Bentancur, and Yves Bissouma. The only player at Spurs that outdid Gallagher was James Maddison, with 16 goal contributions, though that’s not surprising, really.
| Player | Goal contributions | Shot-creating actions per 90 | Goal-creating actions per 90 |
| Conor Gallagher | 6 | 1.76 | 0.44 |
| Pape Sarr | 5 | 2.12 | 0.33 |
| Lucas Bergvall | 1 | 1.63 | 0.30 |
| Rodrigo Bentancur | 2 | 2.46 | 0.16 |
| Yves Bissouma | 2 | 1.02 | 0.00 |
| James Maddison | 16 | 4.73 | 0.90 |
While Gallagher didn’t register as many shot-creating actions (1.76 per 90 minutes) compared to Sarr (2.12), Bentancur (2.46) and Maddison (4.73), the Atletico Madrid man did log more goal-creating actions per 90 (0.44) than anyone apart from Maddison (0.90).
Gallagher can’t match Spurs stars when it comes to passing and defensive work
Obviously, creating opportunities is massive for any team. However, Gallagher does lag behind when it comes to other areas of his game. Surprisingly, he wasn’t able to beat the Tottenham players last season in terms of passing and defensive statistics.
Funnily enough, Gallagher’s 85% pass success rate across the campaign was lower than everyone but Maddison (81.3%), with Yves Bissouma leading the way on 88.6% pass completion.
| Player | Tackle success | Pass success |
| Conor Gallagher | 44.9% | 85.0% |
| Pape Sarr | 48.0% | 86.4% |
| Lucas Bergvall | 53.1% | 87.4% |
| Rodrigo Bentancur | 47.5% | 87.9% |
| Yves Bissouma | 55.9% | 88.6% |
| James Maddison | 31.0% | 81.3% |
Gallagher’s tackle success rate is also lower than all of those we compared him to, apart from Maddison (although tackling is not really part of Maddison’s role).
With a 44.9% tackle win rate, Gallagher is behind Bentancur (47.5%), Sarr (48%), Bergvall (53.1%) and the winner is, again, Bissouma at 55.9% overall. Bissouma may be a wanted man this month, but maybe Spurs should keep hold of him if these stats are anything to go by.
Hopefully, Gallagher can come in and make a difference at Spurs, but he will need to improve those passing and tackling numbers if he is to really improve the midfield.