Micah Richards has rejected the notion that Chelsea should’ve allowed Conor Gallagher to play in the FA Cup semi-final.
Speaking on the BBC Monday Night Club, the former defender defended Chelsea’s decision to prevent their academy product from featuring at Wembley last weekend.
Despite helping Crystal Palace reach the penultimate stage of the competition, he was not allowed to push them any further on Sunday.
Instead, he had to watch on from the stands as Patrick Vieira’s side valiantly battled the Blues, but eventually came unstuck in the second half.
Goals after the interval from Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Mason Mount sealed Chelsea’s third successive FA Cup final.
However, the outcome could’ve been entirely different had Gallagher been on the pitch that afternoon.
His energy and ability to get contribute to attackers would’ve almost certainly caused Thomas Tuchel’s men more problems.
But will never know the outcome of that particular scenario, one that caused huge debate leading up to the game and in the days succeeding it as well.
The BBC pundits get feisty over Gallagher
“It’s harsh for him because he’s worked so hard and he’s helped the team get to the semi-final and he wants to play,” said Richards on Gallagher’s exclusion.
“But the rules are rules. He’s one of their best players; why would they want him to play against Chelsea? It doesn’t make any sense.
“When he went on loan at the start of the season, he was told ‘you cannot play against us.’
“My point being, should that rule be there?” asked Mark Chapman.
“Yes, that rule should be there, of course,” replied Richards.
“If you don’t think he’s good enough to play for you, why should you care about stopping him from playing for someone else?” responded Rory Smith.
“He’s gone on loan to get experience. He’s then turned into one of their better players. Why would you then want them to hurt you?” questioned Richards, which sparked another reaction from Smith.
“But then you shouldn’t have loaned him out.”
“He’s got (Mateo) Kovacic, (N’Golo) Kante and Jorginho. He’s not going to play the games he wants to play, so of course he’s got to go on loan!” said Richards adamantly.
Smith did not drop his point though, saying: “If you are going to be a super club and have loads of players under contract and loan them out, the least you can do to level the playing field is say ‘do you know what, on the off chance that we encounter in you in an FA cup semi-final, he can play.’
“Nonsense. Not a chance. That is ridiculous,” declared Richards.
Looking at both arguments in the Gallagher debate
From one side, you can completely understand why Chelsea denied Gallagher one of the biggest moments of his career.
The 22-year-old has been in scintillating form this season, scoring eight goals and providing five assists for Palace.
Yet, it still feels unfair that all his hard work leading up to the semi-final was then snatched away from him.
As Smith pointed out, if Chelsea didn’t want to face such a dilemma, they should never have loaned him to the Eagles in the first place.
This is much easier said than done, considering how stocked Thomas Tuchel’s squad is.
Hopefully Gallagher won’t have this issue next year, as he looks likely to re-join the Blues once his spell with Palace expires.
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