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Charlton Athletic have been dealt a significant blow by the news that Chelsea are set to recall midfielder Conor Gallagher from his loan spell at the club, according to football.london.

Gallagher initially arrived at The Valley on a season-long loan deal from Chelsea over the summer, and the 19-year-old has excelled at the heart of Charlton's midfield ever since, but it now seems he has already played his last game for the Addicks.

The England Under-21 international has been training with the Chelsea first team after returning to the club on Tuesday - according to The Sun's Tom Barclay - and talks are now set to be held over another loan move for the midfielder.

Charlton will have been aware of the fact that Chelsea always had the right to recall Gallagher from The Valley in January, but this development will still have come as a surprise to Lee Bowyer given the midfielder appeared to have been excelling at the club.

Gallagher may not have maintained his high performance level during the entirety of the first half of the season, but this was owed to the team being disrupted by injuries, and he had still been gaining regular minutes in Charlton's midfield nonetheless.

Therefore, Charlton have every reason to feel unhappy following Chelsea's decision to bring Gallagher back to Stamford Bridge, particularly seeing as there appears to be a strong chance that the talented midfielder will now join another Championship side.

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This could be down to the Blues being keen to see the midfielder test himself at a team higher up the table rather than with the 19th-placed Addicks, but Chelsea knew Charlton would likely be relegation candidates when they first agreed to Gallagher's loan.

Gallagher had also established himself as a regular feature within Bowyer's side, while he would have also been learning a lot from his manager who played as a midfielder himself, with this making Chelsea's decision seem even more peculiar.

This will have now significantly altered Charlton's transfer plans this window, and it seems the club have already identified a potential midfield replacement for Gallagher as they are in talks with Peterborough over signing Marcus Maddison.

However, this is probably a signing Bowyer would have been hoping to complete regardless of Gallagher's situation given the fact Charlton are low on squad numbers, and there can ultimately be no denying that Gallagher will be a big loss for the Addicks.

Higher-placed Championship sides will now be on red alert following this development, with Gallagher being a player who can improve any second-tier side, but Charlton will surely be left feeling very discontented following Chelsea's major call.