Jamie Carragher is fuming regarding all the speculation he’s heard around why Chelsea may sell Conor Gallagher this summer.
Conor Gallagher, 24, has been one of Chelsea’s best performers this season, growing into a senior player at Stamford Bridge.
However, there’s constant transfer rumours suggesting the Blues could sell the box-to-box midfielder at the end of the season. With just over one year left on his current deal, fans are starting to get very worried!
If Gallagher was sold, he would generate pure profit on the balance sheet because he’s an academy graduate. This would in turn help comply with profit and sustainability guidelines (PSR).
The Athletic claimed a month ago that Gallagher’s one of the Chelsea players that the club see as a great option to sell for financial reward. They noted it would take a big turnaround for him to still be a Blues player next season.
However, CaughtOffside recently said that there’s now a possibility around contract talks that could end up resulting in Gallagher staying.
Speaking this week, Jamie Carragher has criticised the regulations that basically incentivises clubs to sell academy stars to stay on the right line of spending. He used Chelsea’s Gallagher as an example of a player that should not be sold for financial gains.
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“It’s beneficial to the club to sell a homegrown player. It’s an unlevel playing field. If you’re a homegrown player compared to someone bought in and cost money, this guy is going to get moved on quicker when that’s his club,” Carragher told The Overlap.
“You think of Conor Gallagher now, that’s his club where he’s come through, and he’s the one that’s actually going to be sold or maybe moved on because of the rules.
“… The academy player can’t be the solution to the problem.”
Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino hasn’t been able to rely on many individual players for consistent displays this season. However, Gallagher’s one of the few exceptions to that.
In our view, the 24-year-old simply must be kept in the squad moving forward.