Revealed: Atletico Madrid tried to pull out of Conor Gallagher deal despite £33m agreement with Chelsea

Chelsea agreed to sell captain Gallagher to the Spanish side earlier this month but there have been some twists and turns along the way. Now, Valencia sporting director Miguel Angel Corona claims Atletico were trying to get out of the Gallagher transfer, just as they were unable to recruit Los Che star Guerra.

The sporting director said, via Relevo: "I'm going to try to give an objective account of the facts. An agreement was reached on Sunday between [Valencia president] Lay Hoon Chan and the majority shareholder of Atletico Madrid, and the documentation was being filled out with the player. On Wednesday morning, due to the delay in the return of the documents, Atletico Madrid were asked what the situation was and they told us that they were trying to get out of the Chelsea deal with Gallagher. It was the first news that we and Javi Guerra had on the matter, that both operations were linked, and we got out of it. There had been a constant exchange of calls, WhatsApp messages... And at no time had they notified us."

Gallagher reportedly turned down a Chelsea contract offer earlier this summer and now he has been exiled from the first-team squad ahead of a possible £33 million ($42m) transfer. The 24-year-old has, arguably, not been treated well by his boyhood club but that could come to an end if a deal is struck.

Chelsea will hope to get the deal over the line as soon as possible so that they can use the funds to potentially buy a new player, or at least ease their fears of breaching Profit and Sustainability Rules. If Gallagher does complete a transfer, he could make his Atletico debut later this month.