Football has a funny way of telling you that in life, ‘it’s never over until it is truly over’. Conor Gallagher looked set to join Atletico Madrid for all money only for the move to fall through temporarily for no fault of his own.
The 24-year-old is back in London training alone after being discarded by Chelsea despite being one of their better players last season. Tottenham who have been long-time admirers of the English midfielder were linked with a late move but were put off by the Blues’ bad-faith negotiations.
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Despite the fact that we are direct rivals, it doesn’t sit well that Chelsea want us to pay more money than what they expected from Atletico Madrid. Understandably, Spurs have side-stepped their pursuit to sign Gallagher.
Is the deal back on?
No… no… not Tottenham’s move for Gallagher. Instead, as per Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano, Atletico Madrid and Chelsea have held a new round of discussions over a transfer that would see the Englishman move to the Spanish capital and Joao Felix come the other way.
The initial deal that fell through was supposed to have Samu Omordion but it could now be Felix. The Portuguese Golden Boy winner is no stranger to playing at the Bridge having spent six months on loan during the 2022/23 season.
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Time to put it to bed?
Thus, it looks like Tottenham have failed to grasp on the late opportunity afforded to them to sign the ‘priceless’ Gallagher. Would he have fit into Ange Postecoglou’s team? The answer is a resounding yes but things weren’t meant to be.
Daniel Levy is never the kind of negotiator to get rolled over during a transfer and Tottenham understandably did not want to give in to Chelsea’s demands. Even the player didn’t seem to do enough to push for a move to the N17.
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Spurs must only look at players who want to wear the badge and defend the crest. We need players like Radu Dragusin who turned down a move to Bayern Munich because… he had given his word to Tottenham.
Finding a midfielder of Gallagher’s profile isn’t an impossible task and it’s time to put this transfer interest to bed and move on to other midfielders if Ange Postecoglou deems that necessary. Let’s see how the negotiations pan out with Chelsea and Atletico the second time of asking.
