West Ham United transfer news as Chelsea value Conor Gallagher past £40m
West Ham United will have to pay upwards of £40m to secure the services of Chelsea midfielder Conor Gallagher this summer, according to Sky Sports.
The 23-year-old English international has widely been reported to be on David Moyes’ shopping list as the Irons look to begin to fill the void left by Declan Rice’s £105m move to Arsenal, but Sky says Chelsea plan to have Gallagher at Stamford Bridge beyond this summer.
Chelsea have already had a number of midfield departures themselves this summer, with Mason Mount, Mateo Kovacic and Ruben Loftus-Cheek all departing West London and it is understood Mauricio Pochettino is an admirer.
Discussing the Hammers’ interest in Gallagher, Sky Sports report on their live blog (19 July, 09:50) : “West Ham are interested in Chelsea and England midfielder Conor Gallagher. Gallagher has two years left on his contract and it is believed Chelsea would be open to extending.
“The England midfielder is on Chelsea’s tour of the USA and – as it stands – boss Mauricio Pochettino is planning for him to be part of the squad next season. Sky Sports News understands Chelsea value him well in excess of £40m.
“Gallagher is one of a number of midfielders West Ham are looking at, the Hammers had a £45m bid rejected by Fulham for Joao Palhinha, and remain keen on Southampton captain James Ward-Prowse, Juventus’ Denis Zakaria and Edson Alvarez from Ajax.”
A big fee
West Ham’s much-increased transfer war chest after the sale of Rice is probably the worst-kept secret in the Premier League. Every club that the Irons approach to purchase a player know that they have plenty of money burning a hole in their back pocket and will therefore aim to squeeze every penny out of them they can.
This has already been visible in the Irons’ pursuit of Fulham’s Palhinha and there are similarities in the chase for Gallagher, neither Fulham nor Chelsea need or want to sell their midfielders and are therefore pricing West Ham out of either move.
There may well be much cheaper options available to the Irons this season that have perhaps had a greater impact on the Premier League in their career, Ward-Prowse, for example, has been a more consistent performer in the division and you’d imagine would be cheaper than Gallagher.
If the roles were reversed and Chelsea were aiming to buy Gallagher from West Ham, it’s very hard to imagine the fee required would be anywhere near £40m let alone upwards of it, so Moyes and the Irons may believe they can get better value for money elsewhere.
In other West Ham news, there is already a midfielder at the London Stadium who believes he is capable of replacing Declan Rice