Stephen Glass, the reason for Jon Gallagher's brilliant moment at Atlanta United

Less than a month ago, Jon Gallagher hadn’t even started one game in the first team of the Atlanta United squad. Today, the Irish midfielder has earned a place in the Atlanta United line up, a reward  for the tough way he have came through since his beginnings on Ireland.

Gallagher made his debut at the age of 15 in the Singapore Premier League. Later on, he played for the University of Notre Dame in the United States college league under the command of Bobby Clark, his head coach. His next move was to Atlanta United, where he played many games at Atlanta United 2.

With few opportunities, he decided to leave Atlanta in 2019 to go on loan to the Aberdeen FC of Scottish Premier League. Clark, who played more than 400 games for Aberdeen, encouraged him. The same did Stephen Glass, his coach at Atlanta United 2 and also a former Aberdeen star.

Gallagher’s good performances at the Scottish football earned him a return to Atlanta United  for the 2020-2021 season. With Frank De Boer as coach he didn’t get many opportunities to play, but everything changes when Stephen Glass took over as interim coach.

Glass told him that after playing at Celtic Park and Ibrox, where you can barely hear the guy next to him, he should be able to perform at the MLS. On September 9, he made his starting debut in a 1-2 loss to David Beckham's Inter Miami. Ten days later, he scored his first goal.

Last Saturday Gallagher scored two goals in the 4-0 victory against DC United. It seems like the Irish playmaker has everything that is required to be Gonzalo Martínez’s successor. The Argentinian winger was transferred on this window to Saudi Arabia.