Bundesliga

Chelsea’s stance on Conor Gallagher’s future made clear

Mikel Arteta wants to beat Barca to sign Mikel Merino

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Atletico Madrid want an answer from Conor Gallagher by the end of the weekend after having their €40m proposal accepted by Chelsea. The Premier League club don’t want to lose another big player on a free transfer after it happened in the past with Antonio Rudiger. The Blues want Gallagher to join Atleti this summer, but it all depends on the player, with positive talks occurring on Saturday.

Gallagher has had a new contract offered to him three times but he has decided not to sign a new deal at Stamford Bridge. The midfielder has his own reasons for this and only he knows what he wants for his future, which we will all know soon.

Chelsea want to find a solution for Gallagher and it is their priority to get it done this month, with all parties confident it will be. They are determined not to lose the England international for nothing in one year when his contract expires.

Arsenal remain confident about closing the Mikel Merino deal in the next few days as the Premier League club have an agreement with Real Sociedad on the package for the player, which will be around €30m. The clubs are still discussing the structure of the deal and the payment terms, so there are still some things to clarify before it can be announced.

The transfer is progressing very well and the expectation is that the deal will get done because the player has already said yes to Arsenal. Merino is no longer negotiating with Spanish clubs as he had opportunities with Atletico Madrid and Barcelona. He wants to go to the Premier League and he wants to play for Arsenal to work under Mikel Arteta, who has been really influential in the market for the Gunners.

This deal is at the final stages and is advancing very well with Merino expected to be a new Arsenal player very soon.

There have been some rumours going around that Arsenal are not willing to pay the release clause in Viktor Gyökeres’ Sporting CP contract but all I can say is that I have no fresh updates on that situation as the Gunners are currently focusing on bringing Merino to the club.

Next week could be very important for the future of Julian Alvarez. I told you guys in June and also July that after the Olympics the plan was for the player’s agent…

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