Atletico Madrid tried to pull out of Conor Gallagher deal with Chelsea – Valencia Sporting Director

Valencia Sporting Director Miguel Angel Corona has been remarkably blunt over how a deal taking Javi Guerra to Atletico Madrid collapsed. The 20-year-old midfielder and Los Che had an agreement in place for him to move to the Metropolitano for €25m, plus €5m in variables and 25% of his future fee.

However that deal was only agreed on Sunday, as Chelsea’s Conor Gallagher looked like he would reject Atletico’s offer. Minutes before their midnight deadline, Gallagher gave the greenlight on a €42m to the Spanish capital, leaving Los Rojiblancos with two recruits for the same position.

#ChelseaFC have finalised an agreement for Samu Omorodion, as per @FabrizioRomano. pic.twitter.com/CPBDsZw1T8

— Football España (@footballespana_) August 7, 2024

It had been circulated that Atletico might buy both. Guerra had been training alone at Valencia, and had booked his train and a medical in Madrid for Tuesday. However Corona explained to Relevo the sequence of events.

“I am going to try to tell facts, objectively. There is an agreement on Sunday between Lay Hoon Chan and the largest shareholder of Atletico Madrid [Miguel Angel Gil Marin], documentation is being filled out with the player. And on Wednesday morning, given the delay in the return of documents, there is a question towards Atletico Madrid, what is the situation and they tell us that they are trying to get out of Chelsea’s operation with Gallagher.”

“It was the first news that we and Javi Guerra had about it, that both operations were linked, and we got out of there. There had been constant exchange of calls, Whatsapps… And at no time had they notified us,” Corona explained.

JUST IN: Conor Gallagher has already passed his Atlético Madrid medical examination.@carrusel pic.twitter.com/tfvc3K05cC

— Atletico Universe (@atletiuniverse) August 8, 2024

“Atletico and we agreed on that agreement on Sunday, on Monday in the face of certain journalistic information, we asked and they themselves told us to be calm that they were trying to get out of that operation, that their objective was only Javi Guerra. The Wednesday the largest shareholder apologises, show us understanding and tell us that he also wanted to get out of the deal, they apologise to us because they know what their actions have been.”

Gallagher is already in Madrid to complete the move, and has reportedly passed his medical with Atletico. It certainly is not the best way for Gallagher to begin his time at the Metropolitano, knowing the owner would have spent his money elsewhere. There are of course two sides to every story, but the timeline certainly matches up.

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