Inside Conor Gallagher’s chaotic wait for his Chelsea future to be resolved
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5689090/2024/08/18/conor-gallagher-Chelsea-atletico-madrid/
Two private planes within the space of a week, travelling in opposite directions between London and Madrid, have carried Conor Gallagher into different realms of uncertainty.
It was only last week on Thursday, in the early hours of the morning, that the England international disembarked at Madrid-Barajas airport fully expecting to finalise a €42million (£36m; $46m) transfer that would formally end his 15-year association with Chelsea and start the next chapter of his career with Atletico Madrid.
But a week and a half later, Gallagher is back in London, his professional future murky once more. He will not be in the squad for Chelsea’s opening Premier League game against Manchester City today (Sunday) and spent Wednesday training away from the first-team group at Chelsea.
“Conor is back and is training a little bit apart,” Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca said. Atletico and Chelsea have spent the last few days in a stalemate sparked by the surprise collapse of a proposed €40million move for Atletico striker Samu Omorodion to Stamford Bridge. While structured separately, the two deals were linked and part of a larger chain of transactions involving Argentina forward Julian Alvarez and, for a few days, Valencia midfielder Javi Guerra.
There was always considerable scepticism outside Atletico that the Spanish club could afford to sign three significant new first-team players while selling just one. Alvarez has been announced as Diego Simeone’s new marquee striker but, denied the income from Omorodion’s sale, Atletico have stopped short of doing the same with Gallagher, having already pulled out of a fully agreed deal with Valencia worth up to €30million to sign Guerra earlier this month.
On the first day of Chelsea’s new season, both they and Atletico are waiting for something to give on Gallagher’s transfer. Gallagher is waiting too. There could be hope for his pending exit — a senior Chelsea source suggested that a lucrative deal for Joao Felix could happen sooner rather than later. This could be the signing for Chelsea that secures the end of Gallagher’s time at Stamford Bridge.
To tell the story of the latest twists in the Gallagher saga, The Athletic gathered information from individuals with all parties involved, all of whom spoke anonymously to protect relationships.
Almost two weeks have passed since Chelsea officials informed Gallagher in a meeting at Cobham that he must make a choice: sign the contract first offered by the club in June (two guaranteed years with a club option to extend for a third, with a salary in the same range as the club’s top midfield earners) or agree to join Atletico.
It was made clear to Gallagher that if he opted to do neither of those things and continued to run his existing contract down towards free agency in the summer of 2025, Chelsea would do everything in their power to protect their financial interests — a stance that he interpreted to mean he would be excluded from the first-team squad.
Gallagher had been holding out hope that his boyhood club would offer him a contract of comparable length to many of the others sanctioned by Clearlake Capital and Todd Boehly but, convinced that he was projected to be a squad player rather than a regular starter under new head coach Enzo Maresca, Chelsea were resolved that entering into a sizeable long-term commitment would be a mistake for both parties.
Instead, they pushed the England international to decide between his remaining options. Two other Premier League clubs had enquired about his availability since talks with Aston Villa ended in June but Gallagher had always seemed more keen to join Atletico than one of Chelsea’s domestic rivals. Clearlake and Boehly were happy to accommodate this, even if it meant settling for a transfer fee significantly below their valuation.
Atletico’s keen interest in Gallagher dated back months, with manager Simeone and sporting director Andrea Berta agreeing that the 24-year-old’s high-intensity style and pace of play made him a good fit. They were also confident of his availability this summer, given his contract, but aware that convincing him to leave England may not be straightforward.
Having an international team-mate so recently on their books proved to be an asset, with Newcastle United defender Kieran Trippier offering a glowing appraisal of Atletico when Gallagher asked him about his experiences playing for Simeone over his two and half years in the Spanish capital.
But that was not the only hurdle to clear. Atletico were spinning other plates in the transfer market, the biggest of which was a deal worth up to €95million to sign Argentina international forward Julian Alvarez from Manchester City.
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As well as making the deal structure more complicated, the size of the numbers involved — Alvarez is Atletico’s second-most expensive signing ever behind Joao Felix — meant that he was the first domino in this series of transactions that was required to fall.
Atletico went into August with money to spend, having raised almost €70million via a new share issue in July. They also generated significant room within La Liga’s salary cap by offloading Alvaro Morata, Memphis Depay, Stefan Savic, Mario Hermoso and Caglar Soyuncu, while loaning out Saul Niguez out to Sevilla (though they are still paying a portion of his wages).
But they had also already committed a combined €66.5million to sign Spain international centre-back Robin Le Normand from Real Sociedad and Norwegian striker Alexander Sorloth from Villarreal. To sign Gallagher, having brought in Alvarez, they need another sizeable sale.
So Chelsea moved for Omorodion, scorer of nine La Liga goals as a 19-year-old for Granada and Alaves in 2023-24, having been rebuffed by Atletico on their first approach earlier this summer.
A further complication to the Gallagher side of these delicate talks was the fact that, while Chelsea gave the England international time to consider his options, Atletico also put in place the framework of a €30million deal with a 15 per cent sell-on clause to sign 21-year-old midfielder Guerra from Valencia.
The two deals were advanced in parallel. It was unclear whether the Guerra move was intended to complement the arrival of Gallagher or as a cheaper contingency plan.
Close relations between Valencia owner Peter Lim and Atletico CEO Gil Marin facilitated swift talks. Last week, as Gallagher waited for the green light to fly to Madrid and undergo a medical after informing Atletico that he had agreed to join them, Guerra was granted permission by Valencia to travel to the Spanish capital to finalise his transfer.
Guerra and his representatives never made it to Madrid. Atletico stalled and, determined to gain clarity on the deal, Valencia set a deadline of last Wednesday afternoon to finalise the documentation. It came and went without movement, leading Valencia to pull the plug.
Speaking in a press conference last Thursday, Valencia sporting director Miguel Angel Corona publicly detailed his version of why talks with Atletico over Guerra had broken down and made an explosive claim about the €42million deal that took Gallagher to the Metropolitano Stadium.
“On Sunday, there was a complete agreement between the clubs and the president of Valencia and the biggest shareholder of Atletico Madrid,” he said. “On Monday, the documentation was developed and, in the same way, it went in parallel with the player advancing in this negotiation and almost closed the agreement (with Atletico).
“On Wednesday morning, due to the delay in the return of Atletico’s documents and some comments made, Atletico’s owner was asked: ‘Why the delay?’. The answer was that they were trying to get out of the Chelsea operation (to sign Gallagher) and that, if they didn’t succeed, they couldn’t fulfil the Javi Guerra deal.
“It was the first news that we and Javi Guerra had about it — that the operations were linked — and therefore we got out of it because it was not a condition that was discussed on Sunday, Monday or Tuesday when there were constant WhatsApps, emails, calls, comments on clauses.
“We were not informed of anything regarding the link between the two and we got out of it to protect ourselves.”
Chelsea officials say they are not aware of any attempt by Atletico to cancel the Gallagher transfer. Asked about Corona’s claim, an Atletico source said: “Our sporting management is dealing with different options and the clubs we negotiate with know that. Valencia informed us that they were no longer keeping the agreement (for Guerra).“
Atletico were considering reviving the Guerra deal this week and it has not been ruled out. Gallagher’s agent declined to comment.
After the delays and the drama, everything appeared set for Gallagher to become an Atletico player. He passed a medical on Thursday morning, having agreed a five-year contract. The next day, the Spanish club posted a picture of him smiling at the Metropolitano on their social channels, indicating that a formal announcement of his arrival was imminent.
But then Chelsea pulled out of the Omorodion deal on Sunday, citing a major problem in finalising the 20-year-old’s contract. The precise reason has not been disclosed, which is less important than the implications of the deal’s collapse for Gallagher.
Discussions between the two clubs quickly moved on to Joao Felix with the aid of Jorge Mendes, who had raised the 24-year-old’s availability with Chelsea as they worked quickly and quietly to close a deal worth €60million plus €3m in potential bonuses with Wolverhampton Wanderers for Pedro Neto, one of Mendes’ other clients.
Atletico have a similar valuation for Joao Felix, and Chelsea have not indicated they are prepared to meet that price. This lack of movement is the backdrop to the standoff over Gallagher and on Tuesday, the England international opted to fly back to London and await further developments. If they can sell Joao Felix to Chelsea or another club in the next few days, the signing of Gallagher could be pushed through — but all parties are still waiting on that happening to solve this impasse.
Chelsea’s stance on Gallagher remains unchanged: he must either agree to the contract offer on the table or leave the club in this window. Atletico’s position is less clear. They want to give Simeone a new midfielder this summer, but the impasse with Chelsea has led them to re-examine their options.
Omorodion could stay at Atletico, but Chelsea were not his only suitors. Gallagher was never the only name on their list of midfield targets. Could the deal for Guerra be revived?
The current situation satisfies no one. The €42million fee Atletico had offered is lower than what Premier League clubs were willing to pay at various points over the last 18 months but it would secure Chelsea a sizeable chunk of pure accounting profit.
Atletico hoped Gallagher — along with Alvarez — would be a symbol of the club’s latest ambitious squad rebuild under Simeone. They wanted him to bring his personality, physicality and relentless, infectious intensity and quickly establish himself as a regular starter, a status Chelsea were unwilling to offer him.
But these considerations are dwarfed by the experience of these chaotic days for Gallagher, whose future is hanging in the air between London and Madrid.
Additional reporting: Guillermo Rai, Simon Johnson, Dermot Corrigan and Adam Crafton
(Top photo: Angel Martinez/Justin Setterfield via Getty Images; design by Dan Goldfarb)
