Talking Tactics | Conor Gallagher
Football stats experts WhoScored focus on the impact made by Swansea City's assist king Conor Gallagher during his loan spell so far at the Liberty Stadium.
When Conor Gallagher's loan spell with Charlton ended in January, the Chelsea midfielder soon found himself part of Swansea City's plans.
The 20-year-old is highly thought of at Stamford Bridge, and, having secured the services of Blues team-mate Marc Guehi in mid-January, Gallagher quickly followed the young defender to SA1.
And since his arrival in south west Wales, Gallagher has quickly proven just why he is rated so highly in west London.
Across his 10 league outings, Gallagher registered five assists for Swansea - no player has provided more for Steve Cooper's side this season - as he formed part of Swansea's attacking options also featuring Andre Ayew, Rhian Brewster and Bersant Celina.
Coupled with his spell with Charlton, Gallagher has six goals and seven assists to his name in the Championship this season, which is a commendable return for a player enjoying the first senior campaign of his career.
With Cooper guiding him, Gallagher looked to be developing strongly and making a real impact in SA1.
His WhoScored.com rating (6.84) is the fifth best of all Swansea players in the Championship this season and,since his arrival at Swansea on January 15, Gallagher's five assists is more than any other player in the league.
Over that same period, of the 44 players to have registered more than one assist, Gallagher's return of an assist every 180 minutes is the third best in the Championship.
It's no shock then that Gallagher has developed a statistically-calculated WhoScored.com strength of 'key passes' with no Swansea player making more key passes per game than the loanee (1.8) in the Championship this season.
With a longer spell at Swansea, that number would likely have been higher especially as he gets up to speed with his new team-mates and the demands that come with playing under a new manager.
While it's understandable that football was postponed to help combat the global Coronavirus pandemic, the suspension of the game came at just the wrong time for Gallagher, among others, who was showing just how effective an attacking threat he is to the watching world.
Should the season be able to be resumed, Swansea supporters will be hopeful of seeing Gallagher continue his fine form and aid his side's play-off push.
Supporters have already caught a glimpse of Gallagher's talent in his 10 league outings for Swansea and his spell in Wales has provided him with the perfect foundation to realise his immense potential.
