Rewind to May last year and the final day of the Premier League season. Conor Gallagher was leading his boyhood club out at Stamford Bridge in what was his 50th Chelsea appearance of the season.
Come August, he was left to wait in a Madrid hotel for five days as Atletico Madrid looked to raise the £35million needed to sign him after Chelsea had effectively forced him out and the midfielder wasn’t allowed to train with the first team under Enzo Maresca.
Six months on, Gallagher, who turned 25 on Thursday, is thriving in Spain under Diego Simeone and his refined brand of Cholismo, with Atletico losing just one of their last 21 games across all competitions and fighting on all fronts.