Chelsea are in pole position to sign striker Samu Omorodion from Atletico Madrid after Conor Gallagher agreed to move to the Spanish club.
And Telegraph Sport can reveal Chelsea have not ruled out adding both Omorodion and Napoli star Victor Osimhen to Enzo Maresca’s squad this summer if they can strike the right deals for the players.
Atletico may allow Omorodion to leave for around £40 million if they can add Julian Alvarez from Manchester City, or another striker, to the signing of Alexander Sorloth, who has joined from Villarreal.
Should that be the case, then Chelsea will be at the front of the queue for Omorodion thanks to the good relationship struck between themselves and Atletico.
Chelsea have already seen at least one offer rejected for 20-year-old Omorodion this summer, but remain interested in him and are hopeful that a deal may still be struck following a new round of talks.
Lukaku could go the other way
The ongoing pursuit of Omorodion has not put them off Osimhen, however, and Chelsea could sign both men, should Napoli allow Osimhen to join them on an initial loan.
Napoli want to sign Romelu Lukaku and Osimhen could move in the opposite direction, with Chelsea believing they could carry three strikers in their squad and that Nicolas Jackson could also play off the left wing.
Chelsea remain in the market for a right-footed winger, but signing both Omorodion and Osimhen could potentially change that plan and see Jackson play out wide more regularly.
On Monday, Chelsea were finalising the details of Gallagher’s £33.7 million switch to Atletico.
Gallagher has verbally agreed to the move and was preparing to fly to Madrid to put pen to paper. Telegraph Sport understands that Chelsea have included matching rights in the deal should Atletico agree to sell Gallagher in the future.
That means Chelsea could match any bid Atletico accepted on Gallagher before the Spanish club could sell him.
The prospect of Gallagher moving back to Chelsea in the future appears slim, but the club have still incorporated matching rights into the deal.
Gallagher is poised to sign a five-year contract after being convinced to move to Madrid by Atletico manager Diego Simeone and his England team-mate Kieran Trippier.
Trippier spent over two seasons at Atletico, playing under Simeone, before moving back to England to Newcastle United.
Gallagher spoke to Trippier about the experience while on England duty during the Euros, while Simeone convinced him he will be a key component of what promises to be a new-look Atletico team.
While the fee is significantly lower than the initial £55 million they banked for Mason Mount, who also had a year remaining on his contract, from Manchester United last summer, Chelsea favoured selling Gallagher overseas.
Chelsea accepted a higher offer from Aston Villa in June, but Gallagher turned the move down, while Tottenham Hotspur have not followed up their long-standing interest with a firm offer.
Selling Gallagher to Villa, Spurs or any other English club, could have piled pressure on Chelsea if the 24-year-old outperformed Maresca’s midfielders during the forthcoming campaign.
Chelsea twice offered Gallagher a new two-year contract, with the option of a further 12 months – once after accepting Villa’s offer and again after Atletico’s bid had been accepted.
Gallagher turned down each offer and, on Friday, was called in to Chelsea, cutting short his summer break, to be told that he risked being left out of the first-team squad if he stayed and did not sign a new contract.
That prompted a hectic weekend of talks, with a verbal agreement struck between Gallagher and Atletico in the early hours of Monday morning.
Latest academy product to be sold
Gallagher played virtually every game under Simeone’s Argentine compatriot, Mauricio Pochettino, at Chelsea last season and captained the team for the majority of the season.
But Pochettino’s exit and the appointment of Maresca as head coach resulted in Chelsea believing that Gallagher would be more of a squad player, if he had signed a new deal, under the Italian.
Once he formally completes his move to Atletico, Gallagher will be the fifth first-team academy graduate to be sold by Chelsea’s Clearlake Capital-Todd Boehly owners, with Trevoh Chalobah and Armando Broja also set to depart this summer.
Broja has interest from a number of clubs and is expected to leave Chelsea in a permanent deal this summer, while Chalobah has been the subject of significant interest from the Premier League.
Gallagher follows Mount, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Ian Maatsen and Lewis Hall out of Stamford Bridge. Reece James and Levi Colwill are two academy graduates who have signed new long-term Chelsea contracts under the current owners.
Having signed Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Chelsea are not intending to sign another first-team midfielder this summer after agreeing to sell Gallagher.
