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Italians close in on William Gallas
Tom Collomosse11 Dec 2008
AC Milan and Juventus are ready to battle it out to sign Arsenal defender William Gallas in the January transfer window.
Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani confirmed the Serie A side will bring in a new defender during the transfer window, with Gallas, Liverpool centre-back Daniel Agger, Roma's Philippe Mexes and Simon Kjaer of Palermo on their shortlist. But Juve, whose manager Claudio Ranieri signed Gallas for Chelsea before the 2001-02 season, are also keen on the 31-year-old, who is valued at around £5m by the Gunners.
Sources say the Italians' sporting director Alessio Secco was in London this week to meet the Gunners' new chief executive Ivan Gazidis. The clubs have a strong rapport, as manager Arsene Wenger was impressed with the way Juve conducted themselves during last year's unsuccessful pursuit of Mathieu Flamini.
They are desperate to sign a new defender, with the 40-year-old Paolo Maldini in his last season with the club. There are doubts over Alessandro Nesta's long-term fitness, while on-loan Arsenal man Philippe Senderos has failed to impress at the San Siro.
Galliani said: "We are going to sign a new defender in January. There is no doubt about that. We have a list of three or four names that could be used for the defence. We are sure to make a bid for one of them in January."
Gallas's future at Arsenal has been in doubt ever since his outburst last month, in which he accused his team-mates of lacking courage and spoke of divisions within the squad. Wenger stripped his compatriot of the captaincy and made Cesc Fabregas the new skipper.
Meanwhile, Mikael Silvestre has warned Arsenal will win nothing this season if they repeat last night's dismal display as they crashed 2-0 to FC Porto.
After finishing runners-up in their Champions League group they face a potential last 16 clash against Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Juventus, Panathinaikos or Roma and are eight points off the pace in the Premier League.
Silvestre said: "The season is long. It is difficult - if you judge the team on last night, you cannot expect to perform like that and win anything.
"We have got time to grow up and we have made it difficult for ourselves but we are still in the race."
Reader views (8)
Clive - Dont be silly, Gallas is a team destroying, morale breaking player. No one wants a sulky captain who sits on pitches 'protesting' after games or making provocative comments to one of the squads best players. Kolo Toure is much more constructive and a solid CB. Clichy is rapid and sagna is also pretty useful. If anything Gallas is by far your weak link.
- Hightower2, Reading, 12/12/2008 09:41
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arsenal fan for 40yrs be glad to get rid of him att stinks big crybaby clown not good example as he proved at chelsea.
- Gooner1962, frome, 11/12/2008 16:06
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If Arsenal sell Gallas in January, we will definitely finish outside the top 4. Gallas might be a motormouth but he is still our best defender, anyone who doesnt agree doesnt know football or needs to go watch the game we lost against Man City again.
- Clive, London, UK, 11/12/2008 15:29
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You better get rid of him before he scores an own goal which is what he threatened to do at Chelsea, but you already scored a bit of an own goal signing him when you knew thats the kind of man he is?
- Blue, London, 11/12/2008 15:00
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I can't believe it. First we get Headless Chicken Flamini, then Heidi Senderos and now we are going for another Arsenal discarded rubbish player. And the word player is an euphemism for him. No wonder we play the UEFA cup.
- Giovanni, london, 11/12/2008 14:20
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Wenger has always had a blind spot with central defenders and just does not seem able to identify top-end talent in the same way he is able to with other position players. Gallas has not been consistently solid from the time he joined us. I would love to see us sign an established performer rather than hand an opportunity to another of the youngsters. Gallas has to go. He's a cancer within the club that needs to be removed as quickly as possible. A player like Mexes - even though he'd be pricey - would be ideal.
- Roy, London, England, 11/12/2008 13:37
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I agree with Judith, the game last nite was the last straw for me with Gallas and while we are dealing with the Italians and PSG can we not sell Silvestre???? In todays news, Alex wants to leave Chelski and it looks like Westham might be loosing their players??? Alex, Upson or Hangeland??? Surely Wenger must be thinking along these lines. Fabergas with us for 6 more years was good to hear, how good will Ramsey be by then??? Cesc will go earlier i believe, but he would of been a good servant of Arsenal. Toure & Djourou have to be our first choice with Song backing them up for me, until we get that top c/b!!! We also need more wide attacking midfielders to rotate with Nasri & Walcott. Elia, Giovinco, Afellay, Ledley just to mention a few names! My buys over Jan & Summer would be: Green, Alex, Aquilani, Givinco, Afellay, Dzeko. Out: Gallas, Silvestre, Eboue, Traore, Bentdner. Loan out: Nortdviet, Hoyte, Randall, Fran, Simpson to Premiership clubs that come up from the Championship so tey get Premiership experience.
- Newmy, Milton Keynes, 11/12/2008 13:17
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I hope this story is true, because from watching him play yesterday in the CL he was missing most of the match, and if it is true then I hope we can get some money for him and buy a decent defender who doesn't keep throwing his dummy out of the pram if things go against his team, so yes please get rid and as I say try to buy a decent defender, not a youngster, but an established one.
- Judith Le'Strange, London, England, 11/12/2008 10:43
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