After returning from a trip to Spain, Conor Gallagher is scheduled to resume training at Chelsea on Wednesday, with his transfer to Atletico Madrid still pending.
One of the summer’s biggest transfer stories is the England international’s move to Atleti, which took a fresh turn on Tuesday night when he returned to London via plane.
For the past five days, the 24-year-old has been in the Spanish capital with the intention of finalizing his transfer to Diego Simeone’s team.
Everything appeared to be going smoothly—a sum of about £34.5 million had been agreed upon, and Gallagher had reached an agreement with the Spanish team. However, Atletico Madrid now has to sell in order to finalize the transaction.
They have already completed an incredible £81m move to sign Julian Alvarez from Manchester City and cannot do the Gallagher deal without bringing in some money.
Chelsea looked to be the answer to the problem as they agreed a €40m (£34.5m) deal to sign 20-year-old striker Samu Omorodion from Atleti, but the young forward has since turned down the chance to move to Stamford Bridge.
The Blues are now in talks over a move for Joao Felix, who spent time on loan with the club last year, scoring four Premier League goals in 16 appearances.
The 24-year-old is interested in a return to Chelsea and is desperate to leave Atletico Madrid, where he appears to have no future under Simeone.
There are plenty of moving parts to the deals, but there is will from all sides to complete Gallaghers move to Spain as he has been told he will not have the prominent role in the first team he enjoyed last season if he is to be at the club for the forthcoming campaign.
Both Chelsea and Atletico Madrid get their new league campaigns underway in the coming days, with the Premier League outfit taking on Manchester City at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, while the La Liga club go to Villarreal on Monday night.