Conor Gallagher sends stadium wild by speaking Spanish during Atletico Madrid unveiling after Chelsea transfer

 

Atletico Madrid fans gave Conor Gallagher an incredible welcome.

Conor Gallagher sent an entire stadium wild by speaking Spanish during his Atletico Madrid unveiling following his move from Chelsea.

On Wednesday Atletico Madrid completed the signing of Gallagher for a fee of around £34 million, a week after he was supposed to join the club.

The English midfielder flew to Spain last week to complete his move, but had to return to England after Chelsea’s pursuit of Atletico striker Samu Omorodion fell through.

Atletico needed to sell a player to facilitate the Gallagher deal, and in the end sold Joao Felix to Chelsea for £46.3m.

Gallagher, who came up through the youth ranks at Chelsea and captained the first-team for much of last season, is just the second Englishman to play for Atletico following England teammate Kieran Trippier.

On Wednesday evening, the 24-year-old and Atletico’s other men’s and women’s teams summer signings were presented to thousands of supporters during an unveiling ceremony at the Estadio Civitas Metropolitano in Madrid.

After Robin Le Normand and Alexander Sorloth were presented to the crowd, Gallagher received a huge reception as he was escorted onto the field by two bikers riding Harley-Davidson motorbikes.

Whereas Le Normand and Sorloth both addressed the crowd in fluent Spanish, Gallagher was limited in what he could say as he does not speak the language.

He did make an effort though, saying in Spanish: “Hello, I don’t speak much Spanish. I am very happy. AUPA ATLETI!”

Gallagher was rewarded with a huge roar from the thousands of fans packed into the stadium, with the scene reminiscent of Jude Bellingham’s first words to Real Madrid fans a year ago.

Gallagher could make his Atletico debut this weekend when Diego Simeone’s side take on Girona on at the Metropolitano Sunday evening.

Gallagher likely won’t be the last first-team star to leave Chelsea this summer, with Raheem Sterling and Ben Chilwell told by Enzo Maresca that they will struggle for minutes this season.