West Ham and Tottenham circling for £50million Chelsea star amid intense exit talks

Chelsea are reportedly now ready to sanction the sale of Conor Gallagher just 12 months after blocking him from joining Newcastle United.

The English midfielder who excelled while on loan at Crystal Palace is deeply liked by manager Mauricio Pochettino and has been involved in all the pre-season games Chelsea have played so far, but the Blues want to move to players like Ajax midfielder Mohammed Kudus and Crystal Palace’ Michael Olise.

According to a report on the Evening Standard, Conor Gallagher is open to the move with West Ham keen on getting him to replace Declan Rice who left for Arsenal earlier in the summer. The void created by Rice’s departure has raked in almost £105million with the Hammers determined to bring in quality to keep the momentum going especially now that they have European football.

Tottenham are looking for new things under manager Ange Postecoglou and have shown that by already beating Newcastle to the signing of James Maddison. They are also reported to be interested in Gallagher as they look to add homegrown talents to their team.

Gallagher has been at Chelsea for the last 17 years, coming through the ranks via loan spells but his best showing in the Premier League was when he was at Crystal Palace where he bagged eight goals and helped them to reach the semi-final of the FA Cup under Patrick Vieira.

Those close to him say he is a manager’s dream but the club are prioritising a bid for midfielder Brighton midfielder Moises Caicido this summer even though little breakthrough has been made with the Seagulls holding out for a deal in the region of £100million or the addition of Levi Colwill to the deal.

Insiders also say Chelsea are also keen on developing players like Carney Chukwuemeka and Cesare Casadei who have also impressed massively during the ongoing pre-season.

The Blues finished a lowly 12th last season despite sinking almost £600million in the last two transfer windows- they have already looked brighter in two pre-season games than they did in the whole of last season and will test their readiness for the new campaign with games against Newcastle, Fulham and Dortmund, all in the United States before returning to the United Kingdom.