West Ham and Tottenham are “vying to sign” Chelsea attacking midfielder Conor Gallagher, according to the Evening Standard.

The English newspaper reports that the Blues are willing to listen to offers for the England international, who has been “deemed surplus to requirements”.

Gallagher is said to have accepted that he needs to leave Stamford Bridge after talks over a new contract did not take place.

It is not known how much the 23-year-old will cost but it’s likely to be at least £40m to £45m, with Everton having been turned down by the player after tabling a similar bid back in January.

West Ham do hold an advantage over other interested clubs

With £100m burning in their pockets after the sale of captain Declan Rice to Arsenal, the Hammers are in a position to make an offer straight away.

That is not the case for Tottenham, while the likes of Newcastle are not expected to enter the running after spending £60m on Sandro Tonali.

Gallagher is one of many midfielders that the club have targeted

While the Chelsea star is clearly a favourite of David Moyes, it should be noted that the Irons boss is not the only person making decisions on transfers.

Technical director Tim Steidten also has a say, along with Mark Noble and chairman David Sullivan. Whether Gallagher is top of their list of targets, we still don’t know.

Reports suggest that West Ham interested in Juventus’s Denis Zakaria, Ajax’s Edson Alvarez and Monaco’s Youssouf Fofana as well.

However, any further attempts to recruit Fulham midfielder Joao Palhinha will probably be put on the back burner. The Portuguese international suffered a shoulder injury in a pre-season friendly against Brentford at the weekend, and it is feared that he could be out of action for a lengthy period of time.