Conor Gallagher looks set to make his first appearance on English soil for Atletico Madrid in their Champions League clash at Arsenal.
The Spanish outfit travel to last season's semi-finalists for their third league phase match of the season.
Atletico lost 3-2 to Liverpool in their opener but thrashed Eintracht Frankfurt 5-1 on matchday two to put them tenth in the standings.
Gallagher played both matches, and is in line for another outing away at Arsenal, who he has faced on eight previous occasions.
But the midfielder, who Manchester United tried to sign in the summer, has made just two league starts for Atletico this season and played only 423 minutes in all competitions.
The 25-year-old was part of the England squad at Euro 2024 but has not received an international call-up since November last year.
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Gallagher's hopes of playing at the 2026 World Cup are in doubt due to a lack of starts at club level.
And speaking to talkSPORT.com, European football journalist Any Brassell has explained what the future could hold for Gallagher.
Brassell said: "There are a few things with Conor Gallagher. Now, I think from the outside, it's easy to say, 'He doesn't start every game, why not?' But I think Atletico have got a really great squad, a squad with loads of talent in it.
"I don't think he can reasonably expect to start every week. And I don't think he really was ever at a point where he could reasonably expect to start every week.
"Now, even if we look at Conor Gallagher, when he arrives at Atletico and think he is the sort of player that is totally up Diego Simeone's street, and he is. It still takes time to adapt to work into Simeone.
"It still takes time to adapt to really meet his demands, which are big demands every single week, every single training session, every single game. So I think to allow any player who's joining Atletico at a season's grace is more than justifiable.
Gallagher has made 61 appearances for Atletico since signing in 2024
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Gallagher has made 61 appearances for Atletico since signing in 2024Credit: Getty
Atletico Madrid midfielder Conor Gallagher.
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However, he is not a guaranteed starter for the clubCredit: Getty
"And if you look at some other big players for them, the only ones over the last ten years that I can really think of that have adapted really quickly are probably Jan Oblak, Antoine Griezmann, Luis Suarez, although obviously it was different because he was planned as a more short-term sort of thing.
"And it absolutely works because he took Atletico to the LaLiga title. You know, guys that are already coming from the same sort of places as Diego Simeone, mentally, physically, in terms of the sort of commitment and the attitude that they give. But it is tough to adapt."
Brassell added: "Conor Gallagher, who we know can play in a couple of different places in midfield, I think for him to get to that point where using Marcos Llorente as a model, for example, I think he could do that. I think he could definitely do that.
"Now, of course, because he was someone who was sort of there and thereabouts with the England squad beforehand, I realise there's this extra tension, there's this extra pressure. The fact as well that he felt undervalued at Chelsea.
"There's a sense that, well, maybe he should be playing all the time, because otherwise, how's he going to nail a place in the England squad? Because it's incredibly competitive. I understand that. I just think it's unrealistic in an Atletico context."
Brassell then suggested that a Premier League return could be the key to getting Gallagher playing more consistent football.
Conor Gallagher playing for Crystal Palace.
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Palace, where he scored eight goals on loan from Chelsea, could be a smart move for GallagherCredit: Getty
With Jude Bellingham, Declan Rice and the rising Elliot Anderson part of a large competition of midfield places for England, Gallagher may need a spell away from Atletico to boost his World Cup dreams.
Brassell said: "If that is something he wants to play every week, he should be looking at a mid-table team in the Premier League, maybe, or a mid-table team with ambitions to get higher.
"Whether that be a [Crystal] Palace, a [Aston] Villa in a certain context...
"I think not one of the absolute top bracket Premier League clubs, maybe that is the way for him. Because the competition at Atletico is fierce, it will always be fierce.
"I think with the amount of games, not just that are played in the modern game, but the amount of athletic effort that is required to play even one game for Atletico, I don't think playing every single week is necessarily doable or desirable, really.
"The other part of it, though, is things have changed a little bit since Conor Gallagher has got there. Not only has he had to take his time to settle, which is normal, as we've discussed, but you've had two things. At one end of the age scale, Pablo Barrios has emerged as an absolute must-have.
Arsenal players Martin Odegaard, Myles Lewis-Skelly and Bukayo Saka
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Atletico's next test sees them facing a firing Gunners side who Gallagher has experience playing againstCredit: Getty
England manager Thomas Tuchel
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A good performance in north London could get Gallagher back into England contentionCredit: Getty
"He's gone from a promising player to a player who, at least two weeks out of three, is getting in the first 11 because he's just fantastic. He's an all-rounder. He's someone who can do all the things that Conor Gallagher should be aiming to be able to do for the team.
"He can score the occasional goal. I think Gallagher's got bigger attacking potential than him, but in every other way, I think you could argue that Pablo Barrios could even become either the successor to Koke or their modern Saul, who really lost his way in the last couple of years there, obviously."
He added: "Of all the things that Conor Gallagher could do to adapt, to be more useful, to play more, to have a greater place in the hierarchy at Atletico, the one thing he can't do, he can't become Koke.
"He can't be the bloke who's come through the academy and played 700 games for the club, nigh on. It's just not possible. And the way he directs operations on the pitch and Koke is the kind of example of that sort of sacrifice, actually.
"Someone who had the talent to be a top level playmaker, who instead has put himself totally at the service of what Diego Simeone has wanted. And Koke, in fact, if you look at it, Simeone's won eight trophies since he's been there.
"The only guy who's been there, we think of Griezmann as being synonymous with Diego Simeone. He's been there for three of the trophies that Simeone has won. Koke is the only guy who's been there for all eight. So to try and get past a totem like that is absolutely impossible.
Conor Gallagher and Diego Simeone at Atletico Madrid.
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Simeone has played Gallagher in every match this season despite his lack of startsCredit: AFP
"But he's also a sort of aspiration because you look at how much he's sacrificed from his game to make himself the player that Atletico have needed him to be for well over a decade.
"I think he and Marcos Llorente are players that you can look at if you're Conor Gallagher and say, 'If I want to be long term at Atletico, these are the guys I need to take bits from their game, from their mentality, from their adaptability', all of that sort of thing.
"So I don't feel like it's over for Conor Gallagher at Atletico unless he wants it to be. I feel he's got the raw materials to make a really, really good Atletico Madrid player.
"But I think there has to be an acceptance as well, that they've gone out there and they've spent a lot of money in the last couple of transfer windows. Competition is absolutely fierce. Every game, every training session is intense and fierce.
"But the fact is that Koke, for example, Griezmann, they're not going to go on forever. They're going to need new leaders. And as well as Oblak, and who knows how long Oblak's got left, but we have to look at the guys who are going to be the next leaders of that group.
"I think maybe Conor Gallagher could be one of those if it goes right for him. But the fact is he's got a lot of work to do if he's going to get himself in that position.
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Conor Gallagher stats at Atletico Madrid.
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Gallagher will hope to kick on and flourish at Atletico this season
"But what I would say is he didn't start at the weekend against Osasuna. That would strongly, strongly suggest to me that he's going to start the Champions League game in the week because that's the way it goes.
"In the games where they want to be more physical, they start. Conor Gallagher. So he's definitely got his use, even if he's not fully developed as an Atletico Madrid player."