Gallagher for Mainoo at Man Utd is swapping one Bruno Fernandes backup for another
Signing a new central midfielder for Ruben Amorim is at the top of INEOS’ 2026 plans, but Manchester United’s “try before you buy” interest in Conor Gallagher is as underwhelming as it is baffling.
Casemiro proving that the football hasn’t left him quite yet has made the requirement for a new midfielder feel less urgent than it did a few weeks ago, and may very well have saved Amorim from the sack, but it remains the area of the squad the Old Trafford hierarchy want to strengthen as a priority.
Director of Football Jason Wilcox insisted in October that recruitment will be focused on “the right players who are talented but also who can deal with the pressure”.
“They have got to have the right character and be somebody who can bring something different to the team,” he added.
And while Gallagher – who swapped Chelsea for Atletico Madrid for £34m in the summer of 2024 – unquestionably meets that first requirement and arguably the second too, quite how he would fit into Amorim’s team is a mystery.
It’s claimed the Red Devils were interested in Gallagher as the summer transfer window was coming to a close having asked about the availability of Carlos Baleba and been told by Brighton he would cost them £100m.
But Gallagher is no alternative to Baleba, Elliot Anderson or the other midfielders Man Utd have been linked with of late.
He’s played just three of his 72 games for Atletico Madrid as the defensive midfielder Amorim covets and at Chelsea was far more regularly used in an attacking midfield role, with protection always afforded to him by Enzo Fernandez or Moises Caicedo. Gareth Southgate played him in that deep-lying role for England at the start of Euro 2024 and it was a disaster.
And yet, according to transfer expert Ben Jacobs, United could revisit their interest in Gallagher in a ‘try before you buy’ deal with Atletico Madrid ‘open’ to an initial loan.
Speaking on The United Stand, Jacobs said: “Man United see Conor Gallagher as a good ‘try before you buy’ option, if Atletico are open to a loan deal next month.”
It would be an underwhelming signing. Gallagher was very good in a very bad Chelsea team before departing for La Liga, but he’s a workhorse; a ‘safe pair of hands’ who’s started just seven games for Atletico Madrid this season.
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And while he’s ‘the sort of player every manager wants in their team’, he isn’t – and this is the only point that matters here – a composed, deep-lying screen for the back five. What they need as an Adam Wharton and what they would be signing is another, arguably inferior, Kobbie Mainoo.
The wantaway academy graduate isn’t playing as he can’t provide the foil for Bruno Fernandes to thrive like Casemiro or – ostensibly – Manuel Ugarte can.
And although Amorim wouldn’t have the same apparent concerns over Gallagher’s ability to “get round the pitch” that he apparently has with Mainoo, signing a player – even on loan – knowing that they’re going to be something of a square peg in a round hole makes very little sense.
We understand Amorim’s desire for hard-working fighters in midfield, but what currently looks like a very wide net they’ve cast to find one needs to be narrowed to only include those who can dovetail with his captain. If Kobbie Mainoo isn’t that man, then neither is Conor Gallagher.
