Premier League club Chelsea went out of their way to commemorate the birthday of Nerazzurri veteran and vice president Javier Zanetti during Sunday’s preseason friendly with Inter by bringing him a cake.
While Inter were in London for their last preseason runout of the summer, the 145-time Argentine international celebrated his 51st birthday.
The Nerazzurri legend received a tiny present during the Chelsea trip and posted an Instagram message on his birthday, expressing his gratitude to Chelsea and to everyone who keeps wishing him a good birthday.
Lesley Ugochukwu scored a late equalizer to cancel out Marcus Thuram’s 26th-minute opener, as the teams played to a 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge.
While the rest of the coaching staff and Simone Inzaghi made the journey to West London, Zanetti had a very memorable day. Additionally, Chelsea’s president, Beppe Marotta, was present to receive ceremonial presents from his colleagues.
Birthday present from Chelsea to Zanetti
When asked directly by a reporter whether his transfer to Atletico Madrid had fallen through, Conor Gallagher gave a very informative response
A Spanish journalist approached Conor Gallagher and inquired straight out whether his move to Atletico Madrid had fallen through.
After Chelsea failed to reach an agreement with Samu Omorodion, Gallagher’s planned transfer to Atletico was cast into doubt.
Gallagher was able to make a U-turn since the Premier League club had agreed to pay £34.5 million to acquire Omorodion.
However, a deal for the 20-year-old attacker was unable to go through due to contractual concerns. Instead, Chelsea and Atletico are currently in discussions regarding Joao Felix, who was loaned to Chelsea for the second half of the 2023–24 season.After the England international passed his physical last week, Chelsea began their pursuit of him in an effort to save the Gallagher deal.
With the player’s transfer to the La Liga club still up in the air, we wanted to know if the Omorodion problem was the reason his transfer fell through.
In his continued silence over his rumored move to Atletico, the 24-year-old just would not answer.
As Gallagher checked into a hotel, the reporter persisted in casting doubt on the move.After coming through Chelsea’s development academy, the midfielder has been officially signed since 2008.
In all competitions last season, he wore the captain’s armband multiple times and made 50 appearances.
There was talk of a transfer to Tottenham or Aston Villa, but Atletico Madrid got there first in the Premier League.
Julian Alvarez has been signed by the Spanish club from Manchester City, but the Blues and ‘Atleti’ are still in talks to try to rescue the deal.
The 24-year-old forward’s transfer will cost an initial £64.4 million plus a possible additional £17.1 million in add-ons.
The transfer of Raheem Sterling from Chelsea in the summer of 2022 set a new record for Manchester City, but his departure surpasses even that.