Newcastle United have been advised that if they had bid £50 million during the transfer window, they may have secured one of their summer acquisitions.
Newcastle were looking for a new midfielder even before the suspension of Sandro Tonali and the injuries to Joe Willock, Joelinton, and Sean Longstaff.
Conor Gallagher was a summer target for Newcastle since the England international’s future at Chelsea was unknown, and a new claim from The Telegraph confirms that the Blues would have accepted a £50 million bid.
Newcastle opted for Tonali instead
Newcastle had the opportunity to sign Gallagher in the summer after Chelsea made him available, but the Magpies were unlikely to recruit two players in the same position for more than £100 million, owing partly to FFP.
There are still concerns about Tonali and whether he will be a wise piece of business, but one thing is apparent when comparing the two: Gallagher would have been a more beneficial asset for this campaign.
Tonali will not be seen in a black and white shirt for Newcastle until August at the earliest, which was a massive blow at the time and remains a huge setback with so many critical injuries.
The Italian is still only 23, so he has plenty of time to establish himself as a strong player, though Eddie Howe will be wishing he had Gallagher available right now.
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Gallagher ran the show for Chelsea last night
Despite losing the game until the last seconds, Chelsea had some nice spurts in the game, which typically came through Gallagher, who was having a tremendous day against Newcastle.
Despite purchasing two players for more than £200 million in the last year in Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez, it is the Chelsea academy product who has been one of the team’s few stars this season.
Howe will no doubt have been watching the 23-year-old dominate the game last night, thinking what would have happened if he had signed the midfielder, but perhaps he will get another chance to sign him in the future.
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