There's always at least one roaring success from Chelsea's annual youth army setup.
The 2021/22 season is only a few months old, but it's already abundantly clear that the star of the show is Conor Gallagher, who has absolutely exploded onto the scene during his season-long loan with Crystal Palace.
The 21-year-old midfielder's move to Selhurst Park was supposed to be a simple taster of Premier League experience, but it has proven to be a platform from which Gallagher has emerged as one of the game's most exciting young midfielders.
Not only has he been one of the top performers in Patrick Vieira's new-look Palace, but he's absolutely taken the Premier League by storm. His return of four goals and two assists in his first ten games is impressive enough, but Gallagher's level of performances have been so consistently brilliant that he can feel genuinely frustrated to not have made it into Gareth Southgate's England squad.
If he can maintain this level, a call-up to the Three Lions will be coming soon enough, but Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel needs to start thinking about how to incorporate Gallagher into his setup next season.
On first glance, central midfield isn't exactly the easiest position in which to break through at Chelsea. Jorginho and N'Golo Kante are both Ballon d'Or candidates, Mateo Kovacic is an elite midfielder and Ruben Loftus-Cheek has quietly been one of the Blues' best players this year. Climbing above them in the pecking order for one of two spots isn't an easy job - just as loanee Saul Niguez, who has a meagre 47 minutes of action to his name this season.
Gallagher could obviously take Saul's spot. That makes significantly more sense than paying £30m to make the Spaniard's loan permanent, but then again, Gallagher deserves far more than the role of fifth-choice midfielder.
For Gallagher to be part of the Chelsea squad next season, Tuchel is going to have to make a drastic change.
We've seen the boss opt for more of a 3-5-2 setup at times, using three of those central midfielders instead of the two that come with his usual 3-4-2-1, and while that would give more minutes to Gallagher, it would take them away from the likes of Kai Havertz, Mason Mount, Timo Werner, Callum Hudson-Odoi and the rest of the players looking to link up with Romelu Lukaku in attack.
If we're sticking with the 3-4-2-1, does Tuchel need to get rid of one of Jorginho, Kante, Kovacic and Loftus-Cheek?
Kante is in talks over a new contract and is perhaps the best player in the world in his position, so he's unlikely to go anywhere, but there's a feeling that any of the other trio could end up leaving.
Jorginho's approaching 30 and is entering the final 18 months of his contract. The Italian's agent has been incessantly hyping up a return to his homeland, and you get the feeling that time to fulfil that dream is slowly running out.
As for Kovacic, he has often been the odd man out behind Jorginho and Kante, while Loftus-Cheek is the returning academy kid (now a few months away from turning 26) who may well have been the midfield's best performer, but still brings the obvious shortcomings that stop him from being seen as a world-class talent.
In reality, there are reasons for all of them to go, and there are reasons for none of them to go. Whoever has to make the final decision will be in an unenviable position.
Gallagher's rise has arguably come too fast for Chelsea, who know they must appease their young star soon before the lengthy list of suitors start knocking at his door.
He's under contract until 2025, so there's no urgent rush on that front, but Gallagher's not going to sit around and waste away his youth when he knows he's more than good enough to hang in the Premier League. The ball is in Chelsea's court.
Source : 90min