Tottenham look to have beaten Aston Villa to the signing of Conor Gallagher from Atlético Madrid after agreeing a transfer fee of up to €40m (£34.6m) for the England midfielder.
Talks with Atlético have progressed rapidly and Gallagher is understood to be keen to move back to the Premier League to boost his chances of making England’s World Cup squad, having made just four starts in La Liga this season. Spurs were in the market for midfield reinforcements after Rodrigo Bentancur sustained a hamstring injury that is likely to keep him sidelined for three months. The club have identified the 25-year-old as their primary target.
Gallagher is 18 months into the five-year contract he signed at Atlético when he moved to Spain from Chelsea in 2024, with Spurs expected to pay around £25m up front. It is understood that bonuses could take the deal to the £34m Atlético paid Chelsea.
Villa have also held talks with the Spanish club and had been hoping to agree a loan deal that would have included an obligation to make the move permanent at the end of the season, but Atlético are understood to have preferred a sale. Manchester United were also linked with the player, who has not featured for England since their 3-1 defeat against Senegal last summer.
Mathys Tel, meanwhile, has informed Tottenham that he is open to leaving on loan, having grown frustrated at his lack of game time under Thomas Frank since a £30m move from Bayern Munich. Paris FC and the Turkish clubs Fenerbahce and Galatasaray are understood to have registered interest in taking the 20-year-old forward on loan until the end of the season. Clubs in Italy and Spain are also believed to have sounded out Spurs, who are thought to be reluctant to let Tel leave after selling Brennan Johnson to Crystal Palace for £35m.
Tel, who started Tottenham’s 2-1 defeat by Aston Villa in the FA Cup on Saturday, wants regular playing time to boost his chances of making Didier Deschamps’s World Cup squad, having been named recently as captain of France’s Under-21s. He has scored two goals in five Premier League starts this season and one in his nine league appearances as a substitute. Tel spent the second half of the previous campaign on loan at Spurs and was an unused substitute in the Europa League final.
Three days after Frank replaced Ange Postecoglou in June, Tottenham activated their option to make Tel’s move permanent. He is said to have been extremely surprised by the decision to leave him out of their Champions League squad because Spurs were over the limit of the 22 players in September. Tel was added in December in place of the injured striker Dominic Solanke.
It is understood there is no suggestion he would like to leave permanently and that he will keep working hard to earn a place in the side. However, having departed Bayern in search of more first-team action, he would like an opportunity to build some momentum in his career.
Spurs, who are poised to complete a £13m deal with Santos for the 19-year-old left-back Souza, are in the market for attacking reinforcements, with Mohammed Kudus due to be out until April with a thigh injury. They have been linked with RB Leipzig’s Yan Diomande and Juventus’s Kenan Yildiz.
Tottenham’s co-sporting director, Fabio Paratici, is in line to complete a move to Fiorentina once the January window has closed. The Italian has been working alongside Johan Lange since returning from a 30-month ban from football in October.
