Conor Gallagher ‘ready to leave’ as Chelsea solicit offers — report

Chelsea’s Great Big Huge Summer Fire Sale of 2023 may not be over quite just yet, with another one of our own, Conor Gallagher, seemingly facing the chop.

According to the Evening Standard, Gallagher is “being offered to clubs” after “being deemed surplus to requirements” by Chelsea, and while he himself would prefer to stay, he “increasingly accepts” that he needs to get out and is now “ready to leave”. The report claims that West Ham United, flush with Declan Rice cash, are ready to push ahead with a £35m approach, while Tottenham are fans of him as well.

So that’s a bit sad once again — as it always is when one of our very own is leaving — especially as Gallagher was one of the few players towards the end of last season who didn’t just go through the motions in the final few weeks and months. The man’s only got one speed, and that one speed is full-on pedal to the metal — for better or worse. He didn’t have a super-stellar season overall, but no one on the team did.

Gallagher, who has two years left on his contract but apparently has not been offered a new one (yet?), has been involved a fair amount this preseason so far, and that does highlight our need to sign a new (defensive) midfielder. We’ve also been linked with a few attacking players recently as well, such as Michael Olise, Rayan Cherki, or Mohammed Kudus.