What does Dewsbury-Hall's arrival mean for Gallagher?

The Premier League profit and sustainability gods giveth and the Premier League profit and sustainability gods taketh away.

The £30m Chelsea have paid Leicester - who had to sell to meet these rules - for Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall seems reasonable for a Championship player of the year nominee who shone in a title-winning side. Especially as he did so under new Blues boss Enzo Maresca.

But this is modern football. As shown by the Your Views post below on this page, the question for fans has become what this means for hometown hero Conor Gallagher who operates in a similar position and role.

After all, Chelsea's midfield options are bountiful: Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez, Lesley Ugochuckwu, Carney Chukwuemeka, Romeo Lavia, Cesare Casadei, Andrey Santos, Gallagher and now Dewsbury-Hall.

Caicedo and Fernandez are both £100m-plus investments, Ugochukwu, Chukwuemeka and Lavia are looking to bounce back from injury-hit first seasons at the club, and Casadei and Santos are returning from loans and both likely to leave temporarily again.

The only one of those likely to leave for a significant fee this summer is Gallagher, who as an academy product would go down as 'pure profit' on the balance sheet. With speculation rife, the 24-year-old has had to say he is focusing on England duty.

Gallagher enjoyed his best campaign so far for Chelsea in a chaotic season under Mauricio Pochettino, missing just one Premier League match, endearing himself to supporters during a challenging period, and earning his England call-up.

But who is more effective?

From an attacking perspective, last season Dewsbury-Hall averaged more goals, assists, shot-creating actions, progressive passes and carries, successful take-ons, and touches in the opposition penalty area. Albeit, that was in the Championship.

However, when he played in the Premier League in 2022-23, Dewsbury-Hall still averaged more progressive passes, progressive carries and successful take-ons than Gallagher, despite playing in a relegated side.

He was also only narrowly behind his new team-mate for touches in the opposition penalty area and shot-creating actions - impressive when you consider he played in a team that had to do far more defending than Chelsea.

In defensive metrics, Gallagher outscored Dewsbury-Hall over both seasons, including for tackles won, interceptions and blocks, showcasing his more combative side.

It would be too reductive to say Gallagher makes the defence stronger and Dewsbury-Hall the attack, but the numbers do edge down that path.

What they also suggest is that if the new man does oust the academy graduate, it will be an unpopular decision, but not an inexplicable one.

*Stats provided by Opta