Reports have emerged in England as to why Chelsea cannot recall Conor Gallagher in January despite the calls by Blues faithful that their club should bring the youngster back mid-season.

The 21-year-old has been one the season’s star performers; earning him his first England cap, coming on as a second-half substitute in the 1-0 win over San Marino last month.

His form on loan at Selhurst Park has led to talk of the Blues recalling Gallagher in January to help supplement their trophy tilt next year.

However, according to the Daily Mail, Gallagher is ineligible to return to Stamford Bridge at the turn of the year due to a quirk in his loan agreement.

The midfielder has played over 50 per cent of Crystal Palace’s matches so far.

Chelsea did insert a recall clause in Gallagher’s loan deal to Palace last summer but it can only be activated if the midfielder plays less than 50 per cent of the games during the first half of the season.

So far Gallagher has been a virtual ever-present, playing in 16 of Palace’s 17 games so far this season.

Gallagher has been vital to Palace’s season so far and the fact he is staying until the summer is a major boost for head coach Patrick Vieira.

Chelsea refused to entertain loan offers for Gallagher that included a permanent option to buy the midfielder.

Antonio Rudiger was hilariously forced to backtrack after trolling Chelsea’s Twitter admin over the calamitous Champions League draw.

The reigning champions drew Lille in the first attempt, leaving the Blues Twitter to post the news.

But an error in the initial draw meant Uefa had to do it all over again, leaving Rudiger to post a ‘delete’ GIF in response to Chelsea’s tweet.

In a remarkable coincidence, the Blues drew Lille AGAIN, and the German then backtracked and tweeted: “okok,… sorry admin.”

Chelsea’s admin got their own back, as they replied to Rudiger with a picture of the centre-back cupping his ears.

Patrick Vieira heaped praise on Conor Gallagher after the midfielder scored a brace in Crystal Palace’s 3-1 win over Everton and said the youngster’s biggest ‘challenge’ going forward will be maintaining his current level.

The England international, who has also provided three assists since joining Palace on loan from Chelsea, has quickly won Vieira over with his lung-busting performances in the middle of the park and it’s clear Thomas Tuchel is also an admirer.

However, Vieira, keen to keep Gallagher’s feet firmly on the ground, urged the 21-year-old to continue with the same attitude and work-rate to ensure he is able to live up to expectations.

“He wants to improve – he’s really humble and working hard,” the Palace head coach told reporters shortly after his side’s victory.

“The challenge for him is to maintain that level to fulfil his expectation.

“Today, he was fantastic, and when the team plays at that level, it allows him and some of the players to express themselves.

“We have to keep challenging him, we have to keep working with him to keep improving, but he can score goals.

“We as a team have to play to a style that allows those types of players to score and take their chances.”

Photo Credit: premierleague/Twitter

Reports in England claim that Premier League clubs are fearful of mass postponements and the potential need for another shutdown due to the rapid spread of Omicron and their slow progress in vaccinating players.

The League announced 42 positive tests for Covid on Monday night — the most ever recorded in a single week — with at least five clubs having confirmed cases, including Manchester United whose fixture at Brentford on Tuesday is in doubt as a result.

The clubs’ worries have been exacerbated by the slow pace of their vaccination programmes, which has left the majority of players facing a wait to receive the booster jab required to provide protection against Omicron, after studies showed that two jabs offer little immunity.

According to the Daily Mail, Wolves are the only top-flight club who expect to meet Boris Johnson’s target of boosting all over-18s by the end of the month — although Leeds and Brentford are also understood to be well advanced in their planning to give the crucial third jab to their players and staff.

Almost a third of players will therefore have to wait until at least the end of January to receive their booster, and many others will be hanging on until the new year, because a significant number of second doses were not administered until the start of October.

Tottenham’s matches against Rennes and Brighton were called off last week, along with Monday’s Championship game between Sheffield United and Queens Park Rangers. Leicester and Norwich also considered postponing their games against Newcastle and Manchester United before going ahead.

The Premier League insist that with rigorous testing measures in place and emergency protocols reintroduced they should be able to continue, but sources at several clubs are privately questioning whether they can carry on in the event of mass postponements without compromising the competition’s integrity — particularly ahead of the congested festive period.