William Gallas and Nicklas Bendtner could be allowed to leave Arsenal next month as part of Arsène Wenger’s plan to freshen up his squad after a disappointing start to the season. Juventus are in pole position to sign Gallas, although Arsenal denied yesterday that Ivan Gazidis, the new chief executive, had held talks with Alessio Secco, the Juventus sporting director, about selling the former captain.
Claudio Ranieri, the Juventus coach, knows Gallas well and signed him for £6.2 milllion from Marseilles while in charge of Chelsea in 2001. AC Milan and Paris Saint-Germain have also expressed an interest in the 31-year-old, but Arsenal would prefer to do business with the Turin club.
Gallas was stripped of the Arsenal captaincy last month after he attacked him team-mates in an interview in France and he was dropped from the squad for the 3-0 defeat away to Manchester City. Although he played well at Stamford Bridge two weeks ago, when Wenger’s team beat Chelsea 2-1, he had an evening to forget on Wednesday as Arsenal lost 2-0 away to Porto in the Champions League.
Gallas was supposed to be the most experienced member of a makeshift Arsenal defence alongside Johan Djourou, Emmanuel Eboué and Mikaël Silvestre, but he was frequently exposed by Porto’s three attackers in Arsenal’s seventh defeat of the season.
Gallas was not the only Arsenal player to emerge with little credit from an uncomfortable evening in Portugal. Bendtner’s performance was almost as shocking as his lurid lime-green boots and raised questions about his ability to play for a team who have aspirations of lifting the European Cup and the Barclays Premier League title this season.
West Bromwich Albion want to sign Bendtner on loan until the end of the season but the 20-year-old Denmark forward is reluctant to move to a team who are bottom of the table. Tony Mowbray, the West Brom manager, stepped up his interest in Bendtner this week after finding out that Ishmael Miller has been ruled out for the rest of the season with a serious knee injury. Bendtner made a name for himself with 11 league goals while on loan at Birmingham City during the 2006-07 season, but his recent performances and attitude have put his future at the club in doubt.
He appeared to clash with Emmanuel Adebayor during the 5-1 Carling Cup defeat by Tottenham Hotspur in January and his half-hearted performance during the 2-0 Carling Cup defeat away to Burnley this month was arguably one of the worst by an Arsenal forward since Wenger arrived at the club 12 years ago.
Bendtner struggled as a lone forward in an Arsenal side missing nine first-team regulars against Porto in the Estádio do Dragão and Silvestre, who was out of position for Porto’s second goal, has warned his team-mates that they will win nothing this season if they carry on playing as they did against the Portuguese champions.
“You can’t perform like we did against Porto and expect to win anything,” the former Manchester United defender said. “We proved by beating Manchester United and Chelsea that the quality is there, so we just have to become consistent.”
Silvestre knows what he is talking about. During nine years at Old Trafford he won the Premier League title four times and was an unused substitute when United lifted the European Cup in Moscow in May.
One player who could replace Gallas if he is sold is Brede Hangeland, the Fulham and Norway defender, who has played a significant part in transforming the Craven Cottage club’s fortunes since he arrived from Copenhagen in January for £2.5 million. “We’ll do everything in our power to keep him,” Roy Hodgson, the Fulham manager, said. “I’m hoping that it is just speculation and that there isn’t genuine interest out there.”
[Credit: TimesOnline]
