Atletico Madrid boss Diego Simeone has admitted he is still pursuing transfers ahead of the summer deadline, with Conor Gallagher’s move from Chelsea hanging in the balance.
Gallagher appeared to be closing in on a move to the Spanish capital after undergoing a medical with Atletico.
But the transfer fell through after the Blues failed in their attempts to take Samu Omorodion in the opposite direction.
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Gallagher returned to west London ahead of the start of the campaign but has been training on his own and won’t feature against Manchester City in the Blues’ opening Premier League encounter.
And ahead of Atletico’s first La Liga clash of the campaign against Villarreal, Simeone explained: “The squad is not closed yet, we are still working on additions. We know what we’re looking for and what we want. Work is being done to finalise the squad.”
Gallagher was a firm favourite under Mauricio Pochettino last season and started all but one of Chelsea's 38 Premier League matches. He captained his team in 24 of those matches and helped the Blues rally towards the end of the campaign as they ultimately secured a sixth-place finish.
But Chelsea appear desperate to offload the 24-year-old to bring in much-needed cash after another summer of prolific transfer activity.
And his departure would help the club adhere to profit & sustainability rules as they could bank the entire transfer fee as instant profit due to the fact the player came through the club’s academy.
Chelsea are said to be exploring an alternative swap deal with Atletico to snap up Joao Felix instead of Omorodion. Felix spent the second half of the 2022/23 campaign on loan at Stamford Bridge playing under Graham Potter and Frank Lampard but only contributed four goals in 20 appearances.
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And Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca was quizzed about the transfer situation in his pre-match press conference ahead of the City clash as he explained: “Conor is back. He is training apart [from the rest of the squad].
“He is doing some medical tests and some training. He won't be involved in the game. At this moment, he is trying to find a solution with the club.
“These kind of things happen every summer, at City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and so on. All clubs have problems because they have players they want to leave, but hopefully everyone can end up happy. Hopefully for Conor this situation will finish where the player, club, manager, everyone involved, are happy.”
