West Ham United willing to pay £40m to sign Chelsea star Conor Gallagher

Dan Kilpatrick reports that West Ham United is prepared to spend up to £40 million to get Conor Gallagher, a midfield player for Chelsea, this month.

Speaking on the Sky Sports Transfer Talk podcast (12 January), the Evening Standard journalist reports that both Tottenham and the Hammers are interested in the England international.

Although Chelsea’s owners might be amenable to a sale this month, Mauricio Pochettino, the team’s manager, would “hate it,” so this is a situation to keep an eye on for the rest of the window.

“It will be intriguing to observe Gallagher’s developments this month,” he remarked.

“West Ham and Spurs might be willing to pay £30 million or £40 million for him.” Keep an eye on that one. I’m sure the Chelsea owners would appreciate it, but I believe Pochettino would not.

Anyone who has been following the Premier League this season would find that to be a strange and extremely surprising transfer.

Undoubtedly, Chelsea has had difficulties, but Gallagher has contributed significantly under Pochettino and has even assumed the captain’s armband in the absence of Reece James in recent months.

He is obviously well-liked there and has always supported Chelsea. It would seem improbable that he will join Spurs or West Ham, especially considering they have spent more than £1 billion in the last two years and require financial assistance for FFP.

They would benefit greatly from the sale of Gallagher because he is an academy graduate and the entire proceeds would be recorded as a profit on their records; yet, West Ham doesn’t seem like the sensible destination.

Fitting Tomas Soucek in would be a headache that isn’t needed right now because Moyes adores him and has only recently signed James Ward-Prowse and Edson Alvarez in that position.

Additionally, Stan Collymore predicts a summer twist: the Hammers will sign an Arsenal player.