‘Pochettino can say what he likes but Chelsea may force him to sell Conor Gallagher,’ says SunSport expert Andy Dillon
CHELSEA are at a “sticking point” with Conor Gallagher and need to sort his future one way or the other.
SunSport’s Blues correspondent Andy Dillon urged the west Londoners to cash in this month or extend his contract to protect his value in the summer.
GettyChelsea risk losing Conor Gallagher for a fee below his value due to his contract situation[/caption]
We revealed the midfielder is “unlikely” to go anywhere in January with boss Mauricio Pochettino keen to hold on to his stand-in captain for the rest of the season.
Gallagher has just 18 months left on his deal.
And Andy warned Chelsea not to miss out on a bumper transfer fee by letting his contract run down like they did with Antonio Rudiger and Mason Mount.
In a full length chat on all things Chelsea available on SunSport’s YouTube channel, Andy said: “Gallagher sums up Chelsea’s issues in a nutshell.
“Rudiger was allowed to wind down his contract [and go to Real Madrid on a free] and Mount had to be sold to Manchester United with just a year left on his.
“And with Gallagher having just 18 months left on his deal, Chelsea are at a real sticking point here.
“Do they cash in now and get some money for him because the price will drop considerably in the summer or do they give him a new contract?
“With the way he’s playing, every Chelsea supporter would probably say give the guy a new contract.
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“He’s playing really well as captain even though he’s not considered to be a John Terry or Frank Lampard kind of leadership figure.
“And he’s not the most sparkling or gifted footballer but he’s a proper anchor in the middle of the pitch.”
Gallagher has played 25 times this season and has stood in as skipper when first choices Reece James’ and Ben Chilwell have been out injured.
Andy added: “At 23, Gallagher is fairly senior in this young team so Chelsea are in a real problem.
“He’s been playing so well, if he keeps it up it’s going to be hard to let him go because he’s been propping up that team.
“But they may have to. Pochettino can say what he likes but he may have to bite the bullet.”
With Tottenham keen on the 11-cap England man, Andy reckons it would cost £45-50m to convince Chelsea to sell this month but that would drop drastically if they let him play until the summer without handing him a new contract.
He added: “It would take around £30-35million to sign Gallagher in the summer but it all depends whether he can keep up this terrific run he is on and whether a team like Spurs feel like he can improve them.
“But if there’s a feeling within Chelsea he might fade by the summer they will have to take a considerable cut on him.
“So from owner Todd Boehly’s point of view, who is maybe looking to balance the books, he might think ‘sell him now, this is probably the most marketable time of his career’.
“Chelsea have let contracts dwindle in the recent past and not sorted them out.”
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