Crystal Palace's hopes of re-signing Conor Gallagher from Chelsea this summer appear to be over, with Eagles manager Patrick Vieira providing an update on the midfielder's situation.

What's the word?

After a superb season on loan at Selhurst Park, interest in the 22-year-old was always going to be high this summer.

Gallagher has been linked with a host of Premier League clubs, including Palace, but Chelsea reportedly placed a £50m asking price on the England international, which meant that a deal was always going to be unlikely for the Eagles.

However, other reports had suggested that the 22-year-old could seek to depart Stamford Bridge this summer as he targets regular first-team football in the upcoming campaign in order to give himself the best shot of winning a place in Gareth Southgate's World Cup squad.

Unfortunately for Palace fans, Vieira has seemingly ruled out any chance of the midfielder returning, saying: "At the moment I don't think there is any chance because he is a Chelsea player. He did fantastically well for us, but he is in pre-season with Chelsea and honestly, we wish him all the best. I don't think there is a way to get him back."

Supporters will be gutted

Gallagher was one of the stars in Palace's impressive 2021/22 campaign. The loanee featured in 34 Premier League games for the Eagles, contributing eight goals and three assists as he averaged a superb 7.08 rating from WhoScored for his performances.

This ranked him as the top performer in Vieira's side, so supporters would surely have been desperate to see him return from Chelsea this summer, and they must be disappointed to hear that he won't be coming back to Selhurst Park any time soon - not as a Palace player, at least.

In the absence of Gallagher - and potentially Wilfried Zaha, who has been linked with a move to Roma - Palace could really struggle for goals in 2022/23, as their next-highest scorer last season was Odsonne Edouard with just six.

 

Since it seems that the Chelsea youngster won't be returning to SE25, Eagles fans will be hoping to see a quality replacement brought in over the coming weeks.

AND in other news: Sky Sports journalist reveals that Palace are nearing 4th summer signing, supporters surely buzzing