Called up to the England squad in March and during the summer, Conor Gallagher would have been feeling bullish about his chances of going to the World Cup. The Chelsea midfielder impressed on loan at Crystal Palace last season and was rewarded with his first four Three Lions caps during the course of the campaign.
However, Gallagher was left out of Gareth Southgate's latest squad for the Nations League fixtures against Italy and Germany. It now looks highly unlikely that Gallagher will be going to Qatar, with the likes of Blues team-mate Mason Mount, Declan Rice, Jude Bellingham, Kalvin Phillips, Jordan Henderson and James Ward-Prowse all seemingly ahead of him in the pecking order.
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One of the reasons Gallagher was called-up multiple times last season was because he was playing regular football - something he has been starved of this term at Chelsea. The 22-year-old has started just two games this season and has failed to complete 90 minutes.
There is plenty of competition in the midfield department at Chelsea, with the likes of Jorginho, Mateo Kovacic, N'Golo Kante and Denis Zakaria all vying for spots.
It remains to be seen how much Gallagher features under Graham Potter, but the midfielder was a late substitute in the 1-1 draw against RB Salzburg - Potter's only game in charge of the Blues so far. If he is going to be part of Southgate's 26-man squad, he is going to need to play regularly for Chelsea between now and November.
"Obviously you can say it was difficult that I wasn't part of the squad in this camp," said Gallagher, via the Daily Mail.
"But I took it on the chin. Gareth spoke to me and said what I need to do to give myself the best chance to get in the squad.
"It was the things that you would expect. Just regular football, performing well consistently, are the most important things. I'm very happy and thankful that he said that. I'm going to work as hard as I can and try to impress him to give myself the biggest chance."
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