Tottenham Hotspur have had one of their most expensive summer transfer windows, spending £165m on new signings under Ange Postecoglou, but their transfer total could surpass £200m if reports are to be believed.
Nizaar Kinsella of the London Evening Standard says Spurs are interested in Conor Gallagher and have made a verbal bid of £40m to Chelsea.
The 23-year-old has been a regular in midfield this season but may have an uncertain future at Stamford Bridge due to stiff competition for playing time. Whether he would leave Chelsea for their London rivals remains to be seen, however. And Tottenham’s bid is £10m less than the £50m requested, so the Lilywhites might have to up their offer.
Kinsella says Chelsea and Tottenham remain in talks and an agreement could be reached during the closing stages of the window. There are multiple factors that could affect the transfer, however, with Tottenham potentially needing to offload Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg to make room for Gallagher.
Sell to buy
Gallagher rose through the youth ranks to the Blues’ first-team in 2022 and has gone on to make 49 appearances in all competitions, scoring three goals with one assist. He featured in 35 of Chelsea’s 38 games last season but started only 18 of them as the Blues finished in the bottom-half of the Premier League table.
He’s been a regular under Mauricio Pochettino this campaign but has Enzo Fernandez, Moises Caicedo, Romeo Lavia, Carney Chukwuemeka and Lesley Ugochukwu for competition, so that might sway his decision if Chelsea accept a bid.
Tottenham may be able to up their offer for Gallagher if they sell Hojbjerg first, but they might not have a need for another midfielder if the latter ends up staying – Postecoglou would have Hojbjerg, Oliver Skipp, Yves Bissouma, Rodrigo Bentancur and Pape Matar Sarr at the least.
