It’s now looking more and more likely that Conor Gallagher leaves Chelsea in the summer.

That is according to transfer speculation this morning.

Conor Gallagher was a popular name in the transfer rumour mill during the January window, but he did end up staying at Stamford Bridge.

Now, the suggestion is that the 23-year-old is destined to head for the exit doors at the end of the season.

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The Athletic explains this morning that Chelsea went into last month’s transfer window prepared to listen to offers for Gallagher.

It is understood that rivals Tottenham wanted the Blues midfielder most of all, but the £50 million price tag proved too steep for interested buyers.

There’s been no recent talks with Chelsea over a possible contract extension, so the player’s situation is still live with less than 18 months left on his deal.

The Athletic’s report claims that it will take some turnaround for Gallagher to still be a Chelsea player next season. The same goes for Blues-owned talents Trevoh Chalobah, Armando Broja and Ian Maatsen, too.

Chelsea view selling the likes of Gallagher as a great way to generate pure profit and help with the Financial Fair Play rules

Conor Gallagher likely to leave Chelsea

In our view, it does feel like there’s now an inevitability that Gallagher does move clubs in 2024. There’s certainly similarities with how Mason Mount left last summer.

We’ve seen this season how valuable Gallagher can be in the Chelsea team, particularly in the opening months of the campaign when you could argue he was the standout performer. It might not be enough to keep him, though!

In fairness, there’s now an overload of first-team midfielders when you look around the current squad.

Gallagher competes for a central midfield position against the likes of Enzo Fernandez, Moises Caicedo, Romeo Lavia, Lesley Ugochukwu, Carney Chukwuemeka and Cesare Casadei.

It sounds like Chelsea may need to make sacrifices somewhere.