There has been real pressure on Tottenham Hotspur this transfer window to prove that things are moving in the right direction.
This season has felt like a new era for Spurs in more ways than one, with the departure of chairman Daniel Levy in September, the creation of various structures within the club and appointments to various roles. Tottenham are in the early stages of a profound rebuilding job, one that may take years to bear any fruit. All that their fans see is what happens on the pitch, where Spurs have been in largely miserable form since the campaign began in August — going nowhere, providing very little for fans to believe in so far.
Every single transfer window feels like the most important or the most pressured one in Tottenham’s recent history. But there has never been a moment where the north Londoners’ need to demonstrate some visible, tangible progress is as clear and pressing as it is now.
With supporters becoming increasingly vocal about their worries about the direction of their club, the stakes have rarely been higher.
Which is perhaps why the signing of Conor Gallagher from Atletico Madrid could be so important. Not just because of what Gallagher brings to Tottenham on and off the pitch, but also because of what he represents.
Because the 22-cap England midfielder has been a target for some time now. Go back to the 2023-24 season, which turned out to be Gallagher’s last full one with London rivals Chelsea. He was in the penultimate year of his contract and was on the market, but was also starring — often as captain — for Mauricio Pochettino’s team. It made for an unusual situation, with no new contract ever agreed. And it left other Premier League clubs on alert about the possibility of signing him.
No one in the Premier League was more keen on doing so than Spurs, then managed by Ange Postecoglou. Tottenham had been short in midfield for a long time, even after the £40million ($53.7m at the current rate) signing of James Maddison from Leicester City in the summer of 2023. They had also made enquiries after Gallagher that summer, and maintained their interest through the January 2024 window, without ever making a bid.
Going into the summer 2024 window, some fans were keen on Spurs adding a No 6 to sit in front of the defence. But the idea at the club was to sign a No 8 — someone to ideally play alongside Maddison and drive the team forward through the middle of the pitch. This was a side that needed legs and energy. Tottenham had worked on a deal for Jacob Ramsey of Aston Villa at the start of the window, but couldn’t quite make it work.
Postecoglou wanted Gallagher, but the move was beyond Spurs. He certainly would have been expensive. And Chelsea would not have wanted to sell their home-grown captain to local rivals. In the end, Tottenham never made a formal bid. Gallagher was eventually sold to Atletico for £38million at the end of that summer window.
Without Gallagher, Tottenham went into last season with no new senior central midfielders to call upon. They bought two teenagers instead — Lucas Bergvall and Archie Gray — who, for all their talents, left the team short on experienced legs in the middle of the pitch. At the end of last season, just before his dismissal, Postecoglou was talking about the “gap in the development” at Spurs, created when experienced players had left and been replaced with teenagers. He did not mention their failure to sign Gallagher, but he did not need to.
When Thomas Frank arrived from fellow Premier League side Brentford to replace Postecoglou last June, he quickly prioritised the No 6 position, wanting another defensive shield in front of the back four.
With Christian Norgaard going from his Brentford side to Arsenal, that led him to a loan move for Joao Palhinha of Bayern Munich. But even with Palhinha in, Tottenham have still looked desperately short in the middle of the pitch this season. It has not helped that Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski — the club’s two best creative midfielders from last season — have both missed the whole of this one so far with serious knee injuries. Yves Bissouma, another midfield option on paper, has not featured for Frank yet having been dropped for behavioural reasons.
That put huge pressure on Rodrigo Bentancur and Palhinha to do everything in the middle at the start of the season, with Frank increasingly moving to Bentancur and Gray in recent months. Bergvall and Pape Matar Sarr have generally been used further up the pitch.
But midfield was clearly a problem area even before the hamstring injury Bentancur picked up against Bournemouth last week. He had surgery to repair the damage on Tuesday and will be out for the next few months. Suddenly, Spurs were looking at the prospect of going into the hardest period of the season with a midfield built on a single fit and experienced player — Palhinha — who was only with them on loan. So the Tottenham hierarchy were keen to act fast in pursuit of an experienced, mobile option at the position.
Gallagher had been on the club’s radar for a long time, and had not been in the first-choice midfield for Atletico this season.
Villa were interested too, themselves in need of experience and energy in the middle of the pitch. But Johan Lange — one of Spurs’ two sporting directors — moved quickly to complete a deal, with input from soon-to-depart colleague Fabio Paratici. They offered Gallagher a permanent deal, working with the player’s camp and with Atletico for a swift outcome. Frank spoke to the 25-year-old directly too, leaving him very impressed — Gallagher could quickly see himself playing under the Dane.
Tottenham’s ownership backed their executives to get the signing done, and by Tuesday morning, Gallagher was flying back to his hometown to undergo his medical. He has arrived in time to be in contention to face neighbours West Ham United on Saturday in a hugely important Premier League game. His experience and energy, and his capacity to win the ball back high up the pitch are going to be vital. So will his enthusiastic personality in a dressing room that could do with some more positive, vocal characters.
In time, there will be a broader discussion about Tottenham’s midfield strategy, and the need for a creative passer, especially while Maddison and Kulusevski, their best two creators, are injured.
Gallagher is maybe not the solution for that issue, or for Spurs’ inability to date this season to make chances from open play. Those concerns will have to be addressed directly. But in a team so short of reliable energy and drive in the middle of the pitch, and of leadership and positive energy generally, he will surely give them a lift.
The fact that Tottenham have wanted Gallagher for almost three years now, and only just landed him, can be taken as a success of sorts for the club.
Now they need it to work on the pitch.