Fireworks and Harleys: Conor Gallagher’s Atletico unveiling is everything Chelsea didn’t give him

New signing given emphatic welcome in Madrid as he greets thousands of screaming supporters with his first words of Spanish

In front of thousands of delirious supporters, a fancy light show and loud music, Conor Gallagher’s Atletico Madrid career began with an escort onto the pitch by a fleet of Harley Davidson’s and ended with a standing ovation when he greeted the crowd with his first words of Spanish.
This was Atletico showing their love for their new signing; their appreciation for a player they know has left his boyhood club Chelsea to sign for them. He has been brave and they opened their arms to him.
Gallagher, dressed in jeans and an Atletico shirt, looked a little awkward with all the attention, laughing nervously when he was asked to speak to the crowd. He probably needed it after the way he had been so shoddily treated by Chelsea, who handled his exit with all the emotional care of an eviction bailiff.
But this was lovely; heartwarming. Entering the pitch with the roar of the motorbike engines in his ears, those pitch side flamethrower things warming his face and lights dazzling his eyes, Gallagher applauded all four sides of the Estadio Civitas Metropolitano. The fans cheered the gesture, screaming his surname as he was introduced to them by the stadium announcer.
But it was when Gallagher took the microphone that you felt a lump in your throat. Unsure, hesitant, as he prepared to deliver the words he had rehearsed in his head, Gallagher spoke his first public words of Spanish.
It was a small thing, a tiny gesture but these things matter. Atletico’s supporters had turned up in vast numbers to welcome him, along with the club’s other summer signings, but it was the right thing to do. In a new country, starting a new adventure, the England international spoke to them in their native tongue.
With his host introducing him and starting with a “welcome home” and asking him how “he feels” Gallagher replied: “Hola, no hablo mucho Español. Estoy muy Feliz. Apa Atleti!”
“I do not speak a lot of Spanish, I am happy to be here. Up Atleti.” The Atletico fans roared their approval as the on pitch presenters smiled and laughed kindly.
If Gallagher had any doubts about moving to Madrid, this will have eased some of them. He has joined a grand club, with a passionate fanbase who want nothing more than to see him thrive in the red and white stripes. The hard work, on the pitch and with his Spanish lessons starts now but as introductions go this was magnificent.
This has been a difficult, possibly even a traumatic summer for Gallagher, who was effectively forced to leave the club he loves. The Academy graduate and club captain, turned into a pawn in a balance sheet balancing project at Stamford Bridge.
When clubs force “one of their own” out the door it leaves a nasty taste, bitter and sour. Gallagher adored playing for Chelsea and sweated all he had for the cause whenever he wore the shirt. Nobody could ever accuse him of anything less.
Chelsea’s board though, needed to make room, they needed to sell him for “pure profit” as an academy player to fund their ongoing vanity project. More signings had been made, more scattergun recruitment, another new manager, and Gallagher was gone.
With that in mind, the goodbye video released by the club to announce his departure for Madrid was either a remarkable lack of self awareness from the social media team or a small protest.
Charting his progress from boy to man in Chelsea blue, the video ends with “once a blue, always a blue…” Except when you are sold against your will at the age of 24 with the peak years of your career ahead of you. Gallagher will not be the only person in this who feels like Chelsea are trying to gaslight them.