Conor Gallagher beats Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka and Spurs star to claim London Football Award



Crystal Palace midfielder Conor Gallagher has been named the Men’s Young Player of the Year at the London Football Awards.

The 22-year-old is the Eagles‘ joint-top scorer this season with eight goals in the Premier League while on loan from Chelsea, having arrived in south London over the summer and immediately hit the ground running.

Gallagher won the club’s player of the month awards for both August and September before earning his first senior England call-up in November and making his debut as a substitute in the record-breaking 10-0 win over San Marino.

Gallagher has beaten out teammate Tyrick Mitchell, attacking midfielder Fabio Carvalho (Fulham) plus north London duo Bukayo Saka (Arsenal) and Oliver Skipp (Tottenham) to win the award.

Gunners and England star Saka won the award last year, with Tammy Abraham (then at Chelsea) and Declan Rice (West Ham) winning in previous seasons.

This now sets Gallagher up for a potential nomination for the prestigious Professional Footballers’ Association Young Player of the Year award, with the winner of the London gong almost always going on to be nominated for the PFA award.

The current holder of the national award is Manchester City’s Phil Foden, with Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool) and Raheem Sterling (City) winning in the previous two seasons before him.

Foden is one of the favourites to win the award for a second season but Gallagher’s name has also been touted as a potential winner along with Saka and Chelsea’s Reece James.

In the rest of the evening’s awards, Palace boss Patrick Vieira lost out to West Ham’s David Moyes in the Manager of the Year contest, with the Scotsman taking the award for the second year running.

Declan Rice was the Premier League Player of the Year ahead of Jarrod Bowen, Jorginho, Antonio Rudiger and Thiago Silva, while Fulham’s goal machine Aleksandar Mitrovic took the EFL Player of the Year award.

Chelsea’s Edouard Mendy won the Goalkeeper of the Year while Sam Kerr, also from the Blues, was voted as the Women’s Super League Player of the Year.





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