Atlético Madrid and the hoovering up of unwanted Premier League talent

‘IT’S ALL OVER NOW, BABY BLUE’

Julián Álvarez has won the World Cup, Copa América (twice), the Copa Libertadores, Big Cup, two Premier League titles, the FA Cup and the Fifa Club World Cup. Just about the only thing he hasn’t won is a Big Sports Day gold medal after France sent Argentina home from Paris after a serious grudge match. At 24, Álvarez’s palmarès (yes, palmarès!) surely makes him a top, top player. And yet, he’s not quite good enough for Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City. If City fans had a boo-boy target last season, it was the all-conquering Argentinian who wasn’t quite so all-conquering. He never quite fitted the gordian patterns painted on Guardiola’s wipe-clean tactics board.

Considering all the football he’s played, with no summer off since 2020, he might just be tired, but he never really fired as a winger, a centre-forward stand-in for Erling Haaland or when deeper in midfield. Atlético Madrid clearly see something in him, having been willing to pay £81.5m for his services. Diego Simeone likes getting under the bonnet of unwanted strikers, having got a decent spin out of Antoine Griezmann, Diego Costa, Álvaro Morata and Luis Suárez in recent times. Don Diego likes his forwards to have a bit of zest and to get stuck in. He’s happy for them to wait for opportunities to come as the rest of his team get on with the job of dishing oot the stoosh – to use the phrasing of Scotland and Lions rugby legend Jim Telfer.

That’s where Conor Gallagher comes in. If his minutes at Euro 2024 were limited, he did a decent impression of being prepared to kick anything that moved. Simeone has previously worked with tough-tackling Premier League artisans who can play a bit, having employed Kieran Trippier (who won a La Liga title, and Matt Doherty, with less success. Gallagher departs the Premier League with more regret than Álvarez. He is the latest victim of Chelsea’s push for “pure profit” sales. In a nutshell, that means selling off youth products before the club sees the best of them as a byproduct of previously reckless transfer dealing. If previous, cash-strapped iterations had to sell off Jimmy Greaves and Butch Wilkins, the Chelsea of 2024 would also have flogged Peter Osgood and John Terry.

A Surrey boy, an Epsom Eagle, Gallagher grew up in the orbit of Chelsea, but is being sold before his time, a statistical reminder of a system that doesn’t care. “It’s a shame because we like to see a one-club man but the rules are different,” said Enzo Maresca, Chelsea’s current manager, admitting players being sold off like veal in football’s farmer’s market is a pretty bad vibe. Football’s propensity to eat and spit out its young meanwhile continues apace.