Poor Conor Gallagher is in a tricky spot.

At the end of the summer transfer window, Chelsea were desperately trying to sell him. They were accepting offers from anyone who was interested and signalling pretty clearly that the midfielder wasn’t part of their plans.

It’s a sign of the muddled thinking upstairs at the club, then, that Gallagher has since played every game so far this season – and has captained the side in recent weeks.

That in turn means that the kid who the club tried to flog just weeks ago now has to front up to the media after defeats.

His words on the Chelsea website today after another defeat are extra painful because you know they come from a man who really does care about the bad results:

“It’s really disappointing to lose the game,” Gallagher said.

“We came into this one trying to win the game and given that we are struggling for points, we were desperate to win today.

“Obviously the red card doesn’t help but we can’t make any excuses. We’re just really disappointed and we’re determined to put it right for the next game.

“We have to stay positive, we will continue to work hard in training to try and improve our fortunes. I know the gaffer will be working us hard in training to get us to improve.

“That’s something we know we need to do. We will stay positive and hopefully we can put it right with victory in the next game.”

Gallagher’s future remains unclear, and it feels likely there are further attempts to sell him down the line in order to balance the books.

Who will be left to front up then?