Chelsea have reportedly held talks with Atletico Madrid over the potential transfer of Conor Gallagher to the La Liga giants, in a deal that could end up being significant for Arsenal as well.
As reported by Fabrizio Romano in his exclusive Daily Briefing column earlier today, Atletico Madrid are one of the clubs who could be about to rival Arsenal for the signing of Real Sociedad and Spain midfielder Mikel Merino this summer.
So, if talkSPORT are to be believed and Atletico are now discussing a similar player in Gallagher with Chelsea, then that’s surely encouraging for the Gunners as they’ll have one less rival to worry about in the race for Merino.
Gallagher has just a year left on his contract at Stamford Bridge, so could be a good option for Atletico, with Chelsea likely to be looking to offload the player to avoid losing him on a free in a year’s time.
CFC may also be keen to take the chance to sell a talent like Gallagher abroad so they can avoid losing him to a rival, while Sociedad may also be reluctant to sell to Atletico for the same reasons.
All in all, this looks like good news for Arsenal, whose fans will no doubt hope there can be some developments on the Merino deal soon as they surely need this important upgrade on the ageing and injury-prone Thomas Partey.
Although Arsenal signed Declan Rice for big money last summer, there is arguably still a need for someone like Merino to come in and play that no.6 role at the Emirates Stadium.
Rice has often been used in a more advanced no.8 role for Arsenal, so Merino could complement him and Martin Odegaard perfectly in a midfield three.
Chelsea won’t want to do Arsenal any favours, of course, but it surely makes financial sense for them to cash in on Gallagher while they still can, even if many fans would also likely be happy to see this in-form player staying at the club after his impact and hard work in the side last season.
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