Crystal Palace had a “warrior” on loan, now he’s outscoring Bellingham

Crystal Palace have seen their fair share of managers come in and out of Selhurst Park over the last few years.

Oliver Glasner may be in the hot seat at present, but before him and before Roy Hodgson, for that matter, it was Premier League legend Patrick Vieira.

The Frenchman had a promising start to life in South London, but as time passed, he seemingly lost his way before being fired in March 2023.

However, while it would be hard to call his time south of the river a roaring success, he made a few interesting signings, including one future international currently outscoring Jude Bellingham.

Vieira’s summer 2021 signings

The player in question joined Palace in the summer of 2021, but before we get to him, let’s start with a couple of other brilliant additions from that window, beginning with Marc Guehi.

The Englishman joined the Eagles from West London side Chelsea for a fee of around £18m, and while he wasn’t a household name, impressive loan spells with Swansea City had turned the heads of those in the know.

Since moving to Selhurst Park, the Abidjan-born titan has come on leaps and bounds, making 124 appearances for the club and 18 for England, which makes his links with a mammoth £65m move to Newcastle United over the summer unsurprising.

However, while the incredible centre-back wasn’t sold, one of his former teammates who joined the Eagles in the same summer, Michael Olise, was.

The French superstar joined the South Londoners for just £8m from Championship side Reading mere days after Vieira was appointed manager, and to say the winger’s transfer was a success would be an understatement.

The 22-year-old made 90 first-team appearances for the club, scoring 16 goals and providing 25 assists before being sold to Bayern Munich for £50.8m, a nice £42.8m profit.

With that said, arguably the most impactful signing made that summer was a loan signing, someone who has since gone on to play for his national team and is now outscoring Bellingham in Spain.

Palace’s former loan star outscoring Bellingham

The player in question is, of course, Conor Gallagher, who put pen to paper on a season-long loan deal with Palace in July 2021, and what a deal it was.

The midfield “warrior”, as dubbed by talent scout Jacek Kulig, hit the ground running at Selhurst Park, scoring six goals and providing three assists, all before Christmas Day.

The Englishman might have slowed down slightly in the second half of the season, but he still ended up with an impressive haul of eight goals and five assists in 39 appearances, equating to an average of a goal involvement once every three games.

Unsurprisingly, this sort of form saw the Epsom-born star remain at Chelsea the following season, where he made 45 appearances.

Over two years, he firmly established himself in the Blues first-team while also making multiple appearances for the Three Lions, including five at Euro 2024.

However, upon the hiring of Enzo Maresca in the summer, the former Palace loanee was sold to La Liga giants Atlético Madrid for a fee of around £34m, and so far, he has looked right at home in the Spanish capital.

In fact, despite playing in central midfield, the 24-year-old, whom Atlético fans have nicknamed ‘Pitbull’ for his tenacious style of play, has already scored two goals in 13 appearances, which is one more than Bellingham has at Real Madrid.

Ultimately, it’s too early to say with any certainty whether Gallagher will be a success in Spain, but if he can replicate some of the form he showed during his stint with Palace, then he should be just fine.

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