Mauricio Pochettino provides 'important' update about Conor Gallagher amid summer transfer talks

A late Conor Gallagher goal was enough to send Chelsea through to the quarter-final of the FA Cup and now has them just one win away from returning to Wembley.

The English midfielder has been one of the players the club has been trying to sell to balance the books, but amid all the uncertainty, Gallagher has remained vital for Pochettino in challenging times.

And in a week when former Manchester United captain Gary Neville labelled the Chelsea project as a 'blue billion-pound bottle jobs'. Gallagher scored to snatch a dramatic win against a very impressive Leeds United side and manager Pochettino admitted his importance in the team can not be underestimated. 

Pochettino said when asked about Gallagher's role in his team: "Yeah, of course, he is an important player and there is no doubt. We were talking at the beginning of the season, the contribution was fantastic for the team. I'm so happy for him.

"I said okay, don't become top scorer, don't score too much goals [smiles]. But the effort is there and the quality is there."

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Good response to the Wembley

The League Cup defeat to a youthful Liverpool side would have hurt the Blues and Gallagher admitted after the game that they needed this win to get back on track. 

The 24-year-old said: "It [the final loss] was a big disappointment and we wanted to bounce back and give the fans something to celebrate, and we managed to do that.

"It has been a really tough few days and everyone has been down but we had to make sure we were right because it was such an important game and the boys dug deep to get the win."