Italians close in on William Gallas
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."
