Spanish side “already in contact” with Chelsea over potential £50m move | OneFootball

Relevo in Spain are today following up on last week’s rumours about Atletico Madrid interest in Conor Gallagher, saying that the Spanish side have contacted Chelsea for information about what it would take to buy the midfielder.

The big push to sell Gallagher seems to have cooled off in recent weeks. Chelsea want a big fee for him, with £50m the usual figure being mentioned at the moment. That has led to a lack of real concrete moves, and more of an impression that a new contract between the midfielder and the Blues could yet happen, despite having looked desperately unlikely not long ago.

Everything is largely on hold at the moment anyway, with Gallagher at the Euros and no real progress possible on his future while that is the case. Chelsea are under no time pressure to sell, and we could see this move drag on all summer. Right now, they will be quoting teams like Atletico huge sums.

A difficult economic arrangement

We still have major, major doubts about this one. Relevo are a good source and we have no reason to doubt Isabel Pacheco, but to us this sounds just economically unfeasible. Atletico are very much in a consolidation phase, and spending major transfer fees and Premier League wages is just not on the agenda for them right now.

Ben Jacobs’ quotes in Simon Phillips’ Substack earlier seem far more pertinent:

“Atletico Madrid appreciate Gallagher but won’t be meeting (or getting anywhere close to) Chelsea’s valuation. They are not actively working on a Gallagher transfer.”

Unless something changes dramatically, it feels like either Aston Villa or Tottenham surprise everyone with a major bid, otherwise Gallagher stays put at Chelsea. It’s not unlikely that Atletico have asked, as Pacheco suggests, but we don’t think they’re likely to have enjoyed what they heard in reply.