West Ham United have reportedly stepped up their pursuit of Conor Gallagher by tabling an initial £40m bid for the Chelsea midfielder.
Is Conor Gallagher leaving Chelsea?
According to transfer expert Fabrizio Romano, Chelsea rejected the Hammers' opening offer for Gallagher after holding discussions with new manager Mauricio Pochettino.
"Chelsea have rejected West Ham first bid for Conor Gallagher around £40m with add-ons," he said. "After discussing internally and also with Mauricio Pochettino, Chelsea decided to reject. West Ham remain interested but #CFC want at least £50m to sell Conor."
The Irons are in desperate need of at least one new central midfielder before the Premier League campaign kicks off in two-and-a-half weeks, having sold star player and captain Declan Rice to Arsenal earlier this month for a fee in excess of £100m.
Chelsea have themselves offloaded a large number of first-team regulars this summer, but the sale of Gallagher to London rivals West Ham has not been ruled out just yet.
Where would Gallagher fit in at West Ham?
As things stand, Gallagher would likely slot in alongside Tomas Soucek in central midfield, though manager David Moyes will no doubt be seeking a second new midfielder to partner the Chelsea machine, should he arrive.
Gallagher is able to play as a pure central midfielder, which is where he featured most regularly last season, as per WhoScored, and also as a holder and as well as in a more advanced role.
The 23-year-old talent was Chelsea's joint-most used player in the Premier League last season alongside Kai Havertz, featuring 35 times in total, 18 of those being starts.
In what was a hugely underwhelming campaign for Chelsea, Gallagher netted three times and assisted another, while his nine yellow cards went unmatched among Blues players.
While those figures may not seem all that impressive on the face of it, FBref's player comparison model likens Gallagher to compatriot and rising superstar Jude Bellingham in terms of their statistical profiles last season.
For example, when taking penalties scored out of the occasion, Bellingham netted 0.23 Bundesliga goals per 90 minutes for Borussia Dortmund, compared to 0.17 for Gallagher at Chelsea.
Bellingham did assist more goals, 0.13 per 90 versus 0.06, but their figures were identical when it came to expected assisted goals (0.13), which is likely to be down to Chelsea's attackers failing to put away chances provided by Gallagher.
They also found the net from the same number of shots (0.11), completed a nearly identical number of passes (81.7% for Bellingham v 81.1% for Gallagher) and also tackled and intercepted at a similar rate (3.71 v 3.83 per 90 respectively).
Bellingham may have had the better individual campaign, but it must be remembered that he recently joined Real Madrid in a deal that could rise to £103m – over double the sum Gallagher is available for.
Once hailed for his "relentless" work rate and his quality in the final third by journalist Patrick Rowe, Gallagher has shown in the Premier League with Crystal Palace and Chelsea that he can more than do a job.
The price tag may raise a few eyebrows, but West Ham could do a lot worse than spend half of their Rice windfall on a player of Gallagher's quality.