First, Pape Sarr jetted off to the Africa Cup of Nations with pre-tournament favourites Senegal. Then, Lucas Bergvall pulled up with a muscle complaint in the 3-2 loss at Bournemouth. Rodrigo Bentancur suffered a hamstring injury late on at the Vitality Stadium. The Uruguayan is now sidelined for the next three months.
Suddenly, Tottenham have gone from an abundance of fit central midfielders, to just two. Well, three if you consider Yves Bissouma, but Thomas Frank hasn’t this season, and neither will we. Joao Palhinha and Archie Gray are the senior options for the under-fire Spurs boss. Even then, the latter is only 19 years of age.
Confirmation of Bentancur’s absence forced Spurs into action. The north London side, as reactive as ever, suddenly entered the race for Conor Gallagher. Spurs are long-term admirers of the former Chelsea man, and they are finally landing a long-standing target. The 25-year-old looked set for a move to Aston Villa, only for their Premier League rivals to trump the Villans in the race to land the out-of-favour Atletico Madrid star, with Gallagher expected to complete his Spurs switch imminently.
Do Spurs really need a midfielder of Gallagher’s profile? Well, not entirely. But what they do need is bodies in a key area of the pitch. The England international brings a wealth of Premier League and European experience to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Gallagher’s an energetic, high-presser who’ll essentially act as Frank’s high enforcer in the middle of the park.
As the Villa defeat showed, Spurs need this tenacious presence in the midfield. The Villans essentially walked through the Spurs squad on their way to Emiliano Buendia’s opener in their 2-1 FA Cup third round win in the capital.
Gallagher would have at least showed a modicum of defensive diligence to prevent the goal from happening in the first place. The issue, though, isn’t surrounding Gallagher’s work rate. Fans should be happy to welcome the midfielder to the club, even with his Chelsea roots.
Rather, the issue stems from the lack of progression, both as a club and a team. Villa were a cut above Spurs in their FA Cup clash at the weekend. Ten years ago, Spurs were a team competing for the Premier League title. In that same season, Villa succumbed to relegation as they finished bottom, 22 points off safety.
In the time since, Villa have shown the requisite nous in the market to invest properly in the squad. Spurs… less so. It comes back to Spurs’ reactiveness in the market. Would they have gone all guns blazing for Gallagher had Bentancur not required surgery for a hamstring injury? That… remains to be seen.
Additionally, Gallagher isn’t the ball progressor Spurs so desperately need. It’s no secret that Frank’s side are struggling to advance play through the middle of the pitch. Indeed, they have attempted the fewest through balls (11) in the Premier League this season. Nine players have attempted more. Manchester City have tried 16 through balls in 2026 alone.
Getting the attacking players on the ball in the final third is pivotal for any team. Yet Spurs just aren’t getting the likes of Xavi Simons, Randal Kolo Muani and Mathys Tel involved as frequently as fans would hope. It means Spurs rank fifth bottom for shots per 90 (10.2) in England’s top tier this term. They’ve generated just 23.87 Expected Goals in the 2025/26 Premier League campaign, and are far and away the division’s biggest xG overperformers.
The attacking numbers are damning. And while the addition of Gallagher is welcomed as Spurs seek to add depth in a vital position, he isn’t the solution to the club’s progression woes. That’s not to say Gallagher can’t pry apart defences.
In his, and Mauricio Pochettino’s, final season at Chelsea, only Cole Palmer (11) registered more Premier League assists than Gallagher (7) for the Blues. His 53 key passes and 11 big chances created were also both second for Chelsea, serving to highlight this weapon in Gallagher’s arsenal.
However, to put simply, Spurs are crying out for a deep-lying playmaker, of which Gallagher is not. He’ll make surging runs forward from deep, and this progressive nature to his game will help as this pragmatic Spurs side transition from defence to attack. It’s all well and good bringing in a midfielder of Gallagher’s profile, though, without addressing the elephant in the room.
We’re at the midway stage of the transfer window and Spurs remain in the market for another central midfielder and a winger, the latter to mask Mohammed Kudus’ injury and Brennan Johnson’s Crystal Palace switch. Hayden Hackney and Aleix Garcia of Middlesbrough and Bayer Leverkusen, respectively, are rumoured targets to ease the playmaking issues that are holding Spurs back.
Gallagher’s addition, as sideways a move as it may seem on paper, is a step in the right direction. At this stage, Spurs need bodies in midfield and Gallagher immediately elevates the quality of the squad. On the transfer window as a whole, though, his signing needs to be the first on the journey rather than the endgame. Failure to build upon the ex-Blues midfielder’s arrival, and the club will be in for a very bumpy second half to the season.