Conor Gallagher may be open to joining Atletico Madrid after the La Liga giants opened talks with Chelsea for the £50million-rated star.
The England Euro 2024 star has just one year left on his contract and has been the subject of much transfer speculation over the past two seasons.
Plenty of Premier League clubs, most recently Tottenham and Aston Villa, have been interested in signing Gallagher who burst onto the scene in 2021 while on loan at Crystal Palace.
Last season the midfielder became a key player under Mauricio Pochettino and was Chelsea’s de-facto captain in the prolonged absences of Reece James and Ben Chilwell.
However, it remains to be seen how or if the 24-year-old will fit into new manager Enzo Maresca’s plans, especially since he is yet to return to training after his exploits at the Euros.
But he may have already played his last game at Stamford Bridge, with The Times reporting that Atletico have acted on their interest in the player and opened talks with the Blues over a transfer.
Moreover, Atletico have ‘received positive indications’ from Gallagher, suggesting he could be open to moving to Spain having previously been encouraged to do so by Three Lions teammate and former Madrid star Kieran Trippier.
The report does however also note that Gallagher is yet to ‘express any desire to leave his boyhood club’, whom he has made 95 appearances for, scoring 10 and assisting 10 goals, but with his contract running down the Blues may decide to cash-in.
Chelsea value Gallagher at up to £50m, who have been tempted to sell for a while given that any fee for the academy graduate would be banked as pure profit.
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He is not the only midfielder that Diego Simone is targeting however, with Mikel Merino, who is also in the last year of his contract, the other top name on their shortlist.
Merino has been valued at £40m by Real Sociedad and has also emerged as a target for Arsenal.
It’s been a busy transfer window so far for Chelsea who have already sold academy graduates Ian Maatsen, Lewis Hall and Omari Hutchinson to Premier League rivals.
They have so far spent over £74m on Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Omari Kellyman, Renato Veiga, Caleb Wiley, Marc Guiu and Tosin Adarabioyo.
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