Exclusive: How Chelsea avoided losing star in transfer to PL rivals, according to expert

Transfer news expert Fabrizio Romano has explained how Chelsea avoided losing Conor Gallagher to rivals Tottenham as he instead prepares to join Atletico Madrid this summer.

Things are moving along for the England international to leave Chelsea for Atletico, with Romano also explaining precisely what happened with the long-running interest from Spurs as he spoke exclusively to CaughtOffside for the latest edition of his Daily Briefing column.

Gallagher played a key role for Chelsea last season, emerging as one of the more consistent and reliable performers in Mauricio Pochettino’s squad, so some fans will no doubt be disappointed to lose him.

Still, one positive is that Gallagher won’t be strengthening a rival, with Romano pointing out that the Blues’ preference was for the 24-year-old to move abroad.

Gallagher transfer to Atletico Madrid explained by Romano

“Another big name on his way to Atletico Madrid is Conor Gallagher. The Chelsea midfielder said yes to the La Liga giants after a complicated saga that took some time – he’s now agreed to the contract terms and will fly for his medical. The verbal agreement is in place, but all still waiting to get all signed in order to feel finally safe on this saga, it’s almost ten days now,” Romano said.

“Chelsea will make a guaranteed €40m from the sale of Gallagher, so it’s a good sale for them, especially as they preferred to sell him abroad even though he also had interest from Premier League clubs. Tottenham wanted him for next summer as a free agent, but no formal bid was sent to Chelsea this summer.”

Tottenham may live to regret not getting this deal done, as Gallagher looks potentially like a fine signing for Atletico.

He’ll also likely be a player Chelsea miss, with this homegrown player often performing better than many of their expensive midfield signings like Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo.