'Clearly there is money there for Aston Villa's transfer interest in Conor Gallagher'

Conor Gallagher's future was a key discussion point in the latest Claret & Blue Q&A session, which is now available to watch on YouTube or to listen to on your podcast provider.

The Chelsea midfielder has one year remaining on his current contract and could leave his boyhood club this summer. The Blues want £50m for the England international, who also has interest from Tottenham.

Dan Rolinson and John Townley spoke about Villa's interest in Gallagher, following the £42m sale of Douglas Luiz to Juventus. You can catch the episode here, with a whole range of topics covered in this week's Q&A.

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"Emery is obviously a huge fan of Gallagher and we know that Gallagher is one of Villa's priority targets," John explained. "And we also know that it's a deal that Villa couldn't do last month because Gallagher didn't want to commit himself to anything. He wanted to focus fully on the Euros, which is fair enough.

"I think that's something that says a lot about him because there was a lot of talk about him leaving Chelsea last year and that they were willing to move on from him. Yet he was the captain, yet he was playing every game and playing very well. Probably their second best player last season apart from Cole Palmer. So it speaks a lot about his attitude that he wants to concentrate on one thing here and now.

Watch the Q&A here

"£50m for homegrown talent is huge money because of what it does for your balance sheet and PSR. We live in a world of PSR, unfortunately, and that's how it is. Villa obviously want Gallagher. Is that a deal that they'll pursue? I think they probably will, especially if or when England get knocked out of the Euros. Tottenham like him a lot too. So Villa will have competition for him. If not, I'd expect them to go for someone else because there's clearly money there to do a deal for another midfielder, with the sales which have been made plus the money they could bring in from more departures.

"What I would say is that Villa have planned for Douglas Luiz's exit for 18 months. Tielemans was the first signing towards that. Barkley coming in for £5m. Villa have been ahead of the game. As we said previously, if Luiz went for £42m and Villa were left with no one and all of a sudden they were scrambling around and they got Gallagher, let's say, well, then they'd have one player in Gallagher minus £8m, if you think of it like that.

"Instead, right now, as we see it, they have Barkley and Tielemans plus £37m. So the position they're in is really good anyway, but I'd expect them to go after another midfielder. Whoever it is, they'll be in a strong position in that department of the pitch."

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