Tottenham priced out for £60m Chelsea man as Blues backtrack on January stance
Conor Gallagher, Axel Disasi and Ben Chilwell celebrate goal for Chelsea
Tottenham will reportedly not be able to afford a Chelsea star in January, as the Blues are now ‘reluctant’ to see him leave and will ask for £60million.
Spurs have had their fair share of injury problems this season. The defence is currently the worst hit, with centre-back pair Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven both sidelined.
But the midfield has also seen its own issues throughout the season.
Rodrigo Bentancur, Giovani Lo Celso and James Maddison have all spent time out of action – the latter is still sidelined after picking up an injury in early November.
Spurs lost the game Maddison was injured in, and then lost three of the next four, with the other game in that run being drawn.
While things are looking up again at the moment, with four wins in the last five games putting the north London outfit within one point of the top four, a couple more absences could hurt them.
Pape Matar Sarr and Yves Bissouma are both now expected to head to the African Cup of Nations.
Given Ange Postecoglou has had to deal with a number of his midfielders being out at different points, and is still feeling the effects of that, he’s had his eye on the signing of a midfield star.
Tottenham priced out of Gallagher snare
The main man in his thoughts is Chelsea’s Conor Gallagher – transfer insider Fabrizio Romano recently revealed the manager “likes” the Englishman.
He also quashed rumours that Spurs were negotiating a deal with the Blues for him.
But he did not suggest that they would not let him go, after TEAMtalk reported not long ago that they were open to offers, starting at £40million.
Now, though, it seems they have backtracked on that stance, after uproar from the likes of pundit Jamie Carragher, who stated the potential sale highlighted “what a mess” Todd Boehly has made of the club.
Indeed, according to FootballTransfers, Chelsea will now ‘only’ accept an offer of £60million or above, having risen from the initially-believed figure.
That, it’s said, means that Tottenham are ‘unlikely to purchase’ the midfielder in January. They won’t be able to spend that much given Financial FairPlay constraints, the report states.
With Postecoglou’s side nearing an agreement for Genoa centre-back Radu Dragusin, most of their January budget will be gone on that deal.
Chelsea want to keep Gallagher
The apparent change of heart at Chelsea is reportedly driven by the fact that Gallagher is ‘very much admired’.
It’s known that Mauricio Pochettino is a fan, having played him in every league game possible as well as giving him the captain’s armband in Reece James’ absence.
However, it was thought the board did not share that stance, and therefore wanted to get rid to ease FFP pressure. Perhaps the manager has brought them round, as Chelsea are now ‘reluctant to see him leave’.
