Chelsea continue to cash in on Cobham as Conor Gallagher adds talent to his £180m academy sale

Conor Gallagher is the latest star off the Cobham production line likely to be sold by Chelsea.

Since Todd Boehly and his Clearlake consortium bought the club Since Roman Abramovich in 2022, his transfer strategy has been obvious.

They have spent over a billion pounds bringing players to the club and giving them long contracts.

Long contracts are key to Staying within the rules of financial fair playwhich means they can spread the costs over several years.

The loopholes have been closed, meaning the maximum liability against your balance sheet can be five years.

There is another loophole that Boehly has used to help them stay within those Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR).

This means that the entire transfer amount of the academy players goes into the positive column of their balance sheet.

Academy players are therefore more valuable to clubs when it comes to selling them than others.

Gallagher will be the latest victim of this, with Chelsea have accepted a £33m bid from Atletico Madrid.

Gallagher's current contract expires in 2025 and Chelsea They are not willing to allow the academy graduate to enter the final year.

They accepted a larger, club-record offer from Aston Villa Earlier this summer, but Gallagher rejected the move.

The 24-year-old has been offered a two-year contract with the option for an additional year, on a salary comparable to that of Chelsea's highest-earning midfielders.

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talkSPORT understands the England midfielder felt a two-year deal did not reflect his role in the team, especially considering the length of deals offered to new signings.

Fans are understandably furious as this is yet another academy player who has been sold.

In total, Boehly has raised around £180m from various sales of players who came through the academy.

Mason Mount was the most expensive signing of last summer, when he joined Manchester United for around £55m.

Ruben Loftus-Cheek was allowed to leave for AC Milan for £15m, while Billy Gilmour was sold to Brighton for £7.5m.

Gilmour was involved in Rangers' academy but joined Cobham at the age of 16.

Lewis Hall has made a permanent move to Newcastle for £28m and there have been further departures this summer.

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Ian Maatsen has joined Aston Villa for £37.5m, while Omari Hutchinson has made his loan move to Ipswich permanent for £20m.

Then there is Tino Livramento, who was sold to Southampton in 2021. Chelsea got an extra £17.5m last season when he joined Newcastle, more money from an academy graduate going onto their balance sheet.

talkSPORT presenter and Chelsea fan Rory Jennings was left furious with the decisions made by Boehly and would not be surprised to see protests.

He said: “This is a disgrace and a scandal. If this doesn't lead to Chelsea fans taking to the streets of Fulham Road to say enough is enough, then Clearlake must take some responsibility.

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“They are dismantling the club. The club is a shadow of the club they took over. If this isn’t the catalyst for us to really protest, I don’t know what will be.

“This is another academy product, who already has a great relationship with the fans, being sacrificed so our faceless sporting directors can play this ridiculous game of Championship Manager.

“Yes, it divides fans to a certain extent, but certainly for the fans going to the game, Conor Gallagher would have felt nothing but love at Stamford Bridge.

“His banner comes out all the time, he was captain of the club, there is only love for him there.

“There is a debate about how good a footballer he is. I think he is a very good player. I think there is always room for a Conor Gallagher in our team.”

“Let’s also remember, and I don’t want this to sound disrespectful to Kieran Dewsbury-Hall, but Conor Gallagher played for England, he was a Euro finalist with England. We’re replacing him with Kieran Dewsbury Hall, he’s a Championship player. So Chelsea have gone down a peg.”