Sam Allardyce has claimed on his ‘No Tippy Tappy Football’ podcast that he would take Chelsea’s Conor Gallagher to the World Cup.
The tournament gets underway in less than a month in Qatar.
Gareth Southgate is set to announce his 26-man squad in the coming weeks, with players very much trying to take their final chances to be part of the line-up.
One of those players who is staking their claim is Gallagher. The 22-year-old was dropped from the last squad after a poor start to the season under Thomas Tuchel.
However, he has picked up his game drastically since Graham Potter came in, playing in a position he is far more comfortable in.
Allardyce would pick Gallagher
Allardyce managed Gallagher while he was on loan at West Brom. Although it was a season that ended in relegation, he has claimed that he would certainly pick him if he was England manager.
He said: “That’s the best wildcard of the lot! Why I missed him out, I am going to punish myself.
“We picked him every week at West Brom in a really bad team. We made that team better in January, but he never, ever didn’t take the challenge on. There were more experienced players who we had to leave out before we even thought about leaving him out.
“The beauty of that is his mental strength. Sometimes when you are losing week in week out as a 19-year-old you can go backwards. But he didn’t, he went to Palace and thought I’m not doing that again, and took Palace by storm.”
Gallagher is one of a few Chelsea players who are hopeful that they will be handed call ups despite being out of the last squad.
Trevoh Chalobah’s unbeaten streak as a starter at Chelsea will certainly be turning heads, while Ruben Loftus-Cheek will be hoping the versatility he has shown in recent weeks will see him return to the Three Lions.