Southampton: Saints targeting transfer for impressive Chelsea youngster

Southampton are reportedly interested in signing impressive Chelsea youngster Conor Gallagher on loan this summer.

According to a report from football.london, Saints are one of no less than 12 teams chasing the 20-year-old before the 2020/21 season.

They name Leeds, Crystal Palace and Fulham alongside Saints in the race for Gallagher’s signature for the upcoming campaign but do not reveal any other interested clubs.

The report does confirm that Chelsea want their academy talent to spend a year at a club that plays a similar style of football to the Blues themselves and where Gallagher can further perfect his midfield attributes.

Saints have a distinct pressing style under Ralph Hasenhuttl’s leadership and this involves the central-midfielders both protecting the defence with strength and also breaking forward to join the attack.

Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and James Ward-Prowse made these roles their own in the 2019/20 season, although Oriol Romeu did step in seamlessly for the former in the latter part of the season.

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Hojbjerg looks set to join Spurs in the near future and Saints will need to find a replacement for him before the beginning of the upcoming campaign.

Gallagher was fielded in a number of positions during loan spells with Charlton and Swansea in the past year but played much of his best football as an attacking-midfielder – not the same role that Hojbjerg played by any means.

Hasenhuttl’s 4-2-2-2 system has the two central players as mentioned before but also has two attacking-midfielders who mix their play between the flanks and central areas in order to create and score.

Saints have plenty of options in these areas too with Nathan Redmond, Moussa Djenepo, Sofiane Boufal and Stuart Armstrong to choose from, but it remains to be seen whether they truly feel Gallagher would fit into their setup.

Both Weston McKennie and Olivier Ntcham have been linked with moves to St Mary’s and would have much more chance of regular game time.