Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino has admitted he hopes to see midfielder Conor Gallagher remain at the club beyond the end of the transfer window.
Gallagher has started each of Pochettino's four games in charge and even captained the side in the Carabao Cup victory over Wimbledon, but despite his role in the team, he has been made available for transfer by those in charge.
Tottenham Hotspur remain interested in Gallagher as the transfer window approaches its final hours, while Bayern Munich have also reached out, but Pochettino hopes to see the 23-year-old remain with Chelsea beyond the deadline.
"All players that are involved in the squad are in our plans," he explained. "After it's a decision of two parts - the club and player.
"Conor is a consistent player than can perform in different positions. We are so happy with him. Circumstances happen in the past that we can say nothing [about], we can only express our feeling from day one that we have started to work and he has shown great commitment to the club. We are happy with him, he was captain two days ago against Wimbledon, he is an important player. What is going to happen in the future, I cannot tell you.
"If you are the best you are going to play, even if we pay big money for some player, they need to perform. If they don't perform, they don't deserve to play. That is football. All players in the squad know they are going to play if they deserve to play. It's not because we paid big money for some player that it is guaranteed they will play. That is the thing that is happening with the squad.
"We are so happy with him, we hope he stays with us."
READ THE LATEST NEWS FROM 90MIN'S TALKING TRANSFERS TEAM
Gallagher himself appeared to suggest after the victory over Wimbledon that he had no desire to leave Stamford Bridge either.
"I don’t want to stop, I want to keep improving, keep helping the club," he said. "It was a great moment [captaining the team] and hopefully many more.
"Everyone’s playing well, obviously a lot of top midfielders [have joined the club], but I’m just playing with quite a lot of confidence at the minute, I feel fit and strong. It’s great to have a great squad that we have for this season, it’s really important to help us win games.
"I’m happy with how it’s going so far for myself, I want to keep improving and keep helping the team get more wins."
LISTEN NOW TO 90MIN'S TALKING TRANSFERS PODCAST
On this edition of Talking Transfers, part of the 90min podcast network, Scott Saunders is joined by Toby Cudworth and Graeme Bailey to discuss whether Mohamed Salah could actually join Al Ittihad from Liverpool, Bayern Munich's hunt of Fulham midfielder Joao Palhinha, the ongoing Sofyan Amrabat to Man Utd saga & more!
If you can't see this embed, click here to listen to the podcast!
This article was originally published on 90min as Mauricio Pochettino reveals transfer hope for Conor Gallagher.