Westham bid ￡47m for Conor Gallagher

Some surprise within West Ham at suggestions they have bid £42m plus 5m for Gallagher. First bid was £37m plus £3m in add-ons. They are confident they have edge over Spurs if Gallagher leaves Chelsea. West Ham also enquired about McTominay and made opening offer for Ward-Prowse.

Time for a little pre-season quiz: who is Chelsea's oldest current central midfielder?

If your answer was Conor Gallagher, a) you are correct, and b) this might be the moment to admit you are paying too much attention. It is a remarkable, surprising fact that underlines the exodus of experience from that area of the squad over the last six months and the strength of Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital's desire to build around young talent.

A little more than three weeks into Mauricio Pochettino's tenure as head coach, it remains unclear which of those two camps Gallagher will end up in. He was the only outfield player to last the full 90 minutes against Brighton & Hove Albion in the second match of the club's five-game U.S. pre-season tour in Philadelphia on Saturday, yet he continues to be linked relentlessly with a move away.

Chelsea are yet to offer Gallagher an extension to a contract which runs until June 2025, and it has been made clear to interested clubs that he is available for the right price. A package worth in the region of £50million ($64.1m) would certainly be enough to get it done, but a market at that level has been slow to develop despite the esteem he is held in across the Premier League. A source close to Chelsea, who will remain anonymous to protect relationships, said on Monday that West Ham United submitted a bid worth £40million for the Cobham graduate. However, Chelsea later rejected the bid. Now West Ham bid ￡42m+￡5m for this