Newcastle are monitoring Conor Gallagher’s situation as his £33million move to Atletico Madrid remains uncertain. The Chelsea midfielder travelled to Spain last week to finalise his proposed switch to Civitas Metropolitano.
However, Gallagher has since flew back to England after Chelsea’s move for Samu Omorodion fell through. The Blues are no longer in the running for Omorodion and have since switched their attention to re-sign Joao Felix, who spent the second half of the 2022/23 season on loan at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea are still locked in talks with Atletico for Felix, who is keen to return to west London. While no deal is close yet, football.london understands there is a growing confidence from Felix’s camp that one can be struck. A sticking point in that potential move is that Atletico are currently demanding around £51.4million for the Portugal international but the Blues do not want to pay that much.
With that deal uncertain, Newcastle are closely watching his situation as they look to steal a march on Atletico, according to the Spanish outlet Fichajes.net. The Magpies might want to add another midfielder to their ranks despite preparing to welcome back Sandro Tonali following his ten-month ban from football for betting.
Speaking on the transfer window in his pre-Southampton press conference, Newcastle boss Eddie Howe said: “Everyone is looking for the best players. From our perspective, we’ve got a very good squad.
“So to sign players and make the squad better, it’s difficult. But it’s achievable – we can do it. But we don’t want to makes a signing and three months down the line think ‘it hasn’t kicked us on’ and you’re just adding numbers. The players who can take the team on is what we’re looking for.”
