Western Morning News (Saturday)
Lowe confident that Galloway will remain
RYAN Lowe is relaxed over the Plymouth Argyle future of defender Brendan Galloway, who has a shortterm contract with the club until January.
The 25-year-old has made six League One starts for the Pilgrims after being one of Ryan Lowe’s clutch of summer signings.
He has been lining up on the left side of central defence, keeping out Macaulay Gillesphey, another close season recruit, who has been on the bench.
Galloway has already made more league starts for Argyle than he did at four of his previous five clubs - MK Dons, West Bromwich Albion and Sunderland (both on loan) and Luton Town.
The one exception is Everton, for whom he made 16 starts and one substitute appearance in the Premier League.
Galloway played only six times during two seasons at Luton, in part due to a serious knee-term injury, which was a factor in him being offered a short-term deal by Lowe.
It was a calculated gamble but it seems to be paying off, with fans already calling for him to be signed up for a longer period of time.
Lowe said: “He’s doing fantastic, he’s enjoying himself, he’s making games which is the most important thing for him.
“Brendan won’t be worried about anything
else but playing games and that’s what we want from him. He’s doing great.
“We know where we are with Brendan, he knows where we are with him. There’s nothing to tell you at the moment because there is no real need to.
“He’s just focused on football, so are we. But, trust me, it will take a lot for him to leave this football club now for what we have done for him and what he’s doing for us.
“That’s the mutual conversation we had from day one. ‘You do good by me and I will do good by you’. He knows that, he understands that.
“I don’t want any distractions with him. He’s a level-headed lad and the most important thing for Brendan is to keep playing games like he’s doing, and keep playing well, and everything else will take care of itself.”
Meanwhile, Lowe has come out against Premier League ‘B’ teams being allowed to play in the EFL.
The topic has been raised in the past, and resurfaced again this week after comments from Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola.
He played eight academy products in City’s Carabao Cup third round win against Wycombe Wanderers at the Etihad Stadium, with six of them making their debuts.
After the game, Guardiola was asked how valuable the experience was for his young defenders to play against Wycombe’s 39-year-old striker Adebayo Akinfenwa.
During his reply, Guardiola suggested City’s under-23s would benefit from playing in the Championship or League One.
Lowe was asked about his views on this at his pre-match Press conference before Argyle’s League One fixture against Doncaster Rovers at Home Park tomorrow.
He said: “I have seen a little quote on this, I haven’t read much about it. I will be careful what I say here because I never ever want to disrespect a manager like Pep Guardiola.
“But if Pep Guardiola was in my seat and I was in his seat then would he say the same thing?”
Lowe added: “Premier League clubs have loads of players on their books - Man City will have loads of players on their books but is that really fair (under-23s’ sides in the EFL)?
“What if they win the league, what do they do? Do they keep going up?”
It was pointed out to Lowe that an under23s side could not be promoted to the Premier League because a club would not be allowed to have two teams in the top flight of English football.
“So you can’t do it then, can you? So my answer to it would be no,” said the Argyle manager.