Chelsea player “moves closer to exit” following Jürgen Klopp’s laudatory assessment and links to Liverpool

Chelsea might trade for a couple of players Mauricio Pochettino loved, considering the Argentine’s dismissal; one of them had previously been connected to Liverpool.

This week, Mauricio Pochettino’s exit from Chelsea—the Argentine leaving after just one season as the team’s manager—made headlines once more. Most people were taken aback by this, as the former Tottenham coach appeared to be improving things with the London team.

Chelsea had a strong finish to the season, winning its last five league games and placing sixth in the standings to earn a trip to Europe. In the latter three months of the season, Pochettino’s team only suffered one loss, raising hopes that he would do better in his second campaign.

However, there won’t be one. With Pochettino leaving Stamford Bridge, a number of players may now exit from Chelsea. Conor Gallagher and Trevor Chalobah might be two of them.

Pochettino was willing to put up a battle to keep both players with the team this summer, according to the Evening Standard. Pochettino’s departure means Chelsea will need to sell in order to balance the books, and both players might be sold to raise some much-needed cash.

Jürgen Klopp, the now-deceased former manager of Liverpool, was a fan of Gallagher’s, having praised the midfield player while he was on loan at Crystal Palace during the 2021–2022 season.

Before a game against Palace in September 2021, Klopp remarked, “Gallagher, I’m not sure if we can still say he’s a ‘talent’ when he plays for [England] U21, but he’s a really, really good player” (via This Is Anfield). Gallagher returned to Chelsea after spending the entire 2021–22 season with Palace.

With 37 league appearances and five goals last season, he established himself as one of Pochettino’s main midfield players. However, Liverpool might not be interested in signing the 24-year-old this summer given that Klopp is leaving Anfield and Arne Slot is taking his place.

Gallagher and the Reds have been connected for the past year or so. The England international was still being predicted to join Liverpool even after the summer transfer window closed and Liverpool had signed four new midfield players.

Chelsea will probably need to offload players soon since they must adhere to the Premier League’s PSR restrictions by June 30. Gallagher completed Chelsea’s youth academy, therefore the Stamford Bridge team would only benefit financially from his sale.

According to Liverpool.com, Slot may not have the same high regard for Gallagher now that the German is no longer at Anfield. Klopp has always held Gallagher in high regard. However, as he just has one year left on his contract, Liverpool could sign him for a very low price should they decide to make a bid.