Roma in London to land Arsenal defender William Gallas

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Officials from the Serie A club are in the capital to hijack the Gunners' attempts to extend Gallas's contract, which expires at the end of the season.

Talks were due to continue this week between Arsenal and the former Chelsea defender with manager Arsene Wenger keen to break the club's policy of only offering one-year deals to players over 30 years old.

It is believed that Gallas is unwilling to take a pay cut from his present £80,000-a-week, however, Arsenal want to reduce that by £20,000 with a sizeable signing on fee should he still be able to perform at the highest level at the start of the second year.

Roma boss Claudio Ranieri, who worked with Gallas at Stamford Bridge, said earlier this week: "I signed him when I was in charge at Chelsea and he has done well both for them and Arsenal.

"He is a top-level player and all top players are welcome at Roma."

Sporting director Daniele Prade was at Emirates Stadium last night to watch Arsenal's 5-0 thrashing of Porto as they booked their place in the Champions League quarter-finals, although Gallas was sidelined with a calf problem.

Today Prade confirmed he was in London and had been to the match but refused to say anything else, although Italian newspapers also suggested he was watching Porto strikers Hulk and Falcao.

The Frenchman feels he is in a strong bargaining position after a fine run of form since being stripped of the captaincy in November 2008 and he has also attracted interest from Juventus and AC Milan.

Gallas could move for nothing this summer and, although Arsenal remain confident he will stay, he is thought to be tempted by a move abroad before he retires from the game.

Before joining Arsenal in 2006, Gallas expressed his desire to leave Chelsea and England when he said: "I want another challenge. I want to experience another league."

Gallas has repeatedly refused to talk to the media since losing the captaincy and Roma are banking on the hope he feels disillusioned enough with English football to move on.