Conor Gallagher from Chelsea has been deemed ‘not good enough’ for Aston Villa, but an underperforming Arsenal player is seen as a ‘great signing’ for Unai Emery.
Currently in Germany with England’s Euro 2024 team, Gallagher has been strongly linked to a potential transfer to Aston Villa.
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Despite Gallagher captaining Chelsea for much of the previous season and playing in all but one Premier League match, Chelsea is willing to sell the 24-year-old.
The club aims to adhere to profit and sustainability rules and wants to reduce new manager Enzo Maresca’s squad size, especially after acquiring Leicester City’s Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall earlier this week.
While Emery remains interested in Gallagher, former Aston Villa striker Alan McInally believes he is ‘not good enough’ for the team.
When asked whether he wanted to see Gallagher at Villa Park this summer, McInally told Gambling.com: ‘Nope… no. I don’t think he’s good enough to play for Aston Villa.
‘He’s a good player, he’s done alright, but I can’t for the life of me understand how he got in the England squad and plays in front of some other players.
‘Then again, that is the choice of Gareth Southgate. He has to stand by that.
‘I don’t see Conor Gallagher making Aston Villa any better and I want players to come to my football club that are exceptionally better than Conor Gallagher and that’s just the way I feel.
‘He’s a good player, he’s done very well for himself but I don’t see him being an Aston Villa player.
‘I don’t know how much he’s going to cost but at the same time I don’t see the fit there.’
While McInally doubts Gallagher would thrive at Aston Villa, he has told the Midlands club to sign Arsenal’s Emile Smith Rowe.
‘I love him,’ McInally said of Smith Rowe, who has three caps for England. ‘He’s a really good player by the way, a really good player.
‘Would he get in the first team? I think he’d be pushing wouldn’t he. Obviously Douglas Luiz has gone to Juventus now, so there is a space in there along with (Boubacar) Kamara and John McGinn.
‘You can’t really count (Moussa) Diaby and (Leon) Bailey on the right-hand side so you can take them out of the midfield scenario.
‘In terms of young and energetic, on the fringes of a team that were going for the championship last season, I think he’d be a fantastic signing, I genuinely do. I think he’d be a great signing.’
