William Gallas

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William Gallas
Personal information
Date of birth August 17, 1977 (age 29)
Place of birth    Flag of France Asnières-sur-Seine, France
Height 1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)
Nickname Willy
Playing position Defender
Club information
Current club Flag of England Arsenal
Number 10
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1995-1997
1997-2001
2001-2006
2006-		 Caen
Olympique Marseille
Chelsea
Arsenal		 034 0(0)
101 0(3)
159 (12)
012 0(3)   
National team2
2002- Flag of France France 052 0(2)

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of 24 December 2006.
2 National team caps and goals correct
as of 24 December 2006.
* Appearances (Goals)

William Gallas, (born 17 August 1977 in Asnières-sur-Seine), is a French international footballer of Guadeloupian descent who currently plays for Arsenal in the English Premier League. He is a defender who prefers to play in the centre, but he can also play at full-back on either side of the pitch.

Contents

[edit] Football career

[edit] French club career

William Gallas is a graduate of the French Football academy at Clairefontaine. He started his professional career at 2nd division Caen helping them to promotion as champions in 1996. He was subsequently transferred to Marseille in 1997.

[edit] Chelsea

Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri bought Gallas from Marseille in May 2001 for £6.2 million. He chose the number 13 shirt because it was his postcode back when he lived in Marseille. Under Ranieri, Gallas developed centre back partnerships with Marcel Desailly and later with John Terry, and also played at right-back at times. Under these partnerships he was a part of one of the Premiership's best defences. It was with Chelsea and under Ranieri where Gallas obtained his first international cap.

At Chelsea, Gallas developed into a world class defender. His partnership with John Terry at the centre of Chelsea's defence was one of the most formidable in the world. The partnership included a 16 games run playing together without conceding a single goal. His main attributes are his ability to mark players and read the game, but his most prized asset is his pace, being able to keep up with the likes of Thierry Henry. This made Gallas an ideal complement to the solid and hard tackling Terry.

Gallas was part of Chelsea's team winning back to back Premiership titles and a League Cup win under Ranieri's successor José Mourinho. However due to serious injury to left back Wayne Bridge in 2004-05 Gallas was forced to play out of position. Despite the purchase of Asier del Horno from Athletic Bilbao for £8 million in the 2005 close season Gallas found himself often playing on the left, a situation he got increasingly frustrated with. However Gallas scored vital goals as Chelsea retained their title in the 2005-06 season at Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United. His 20 yard 93rd minute winner against Tottenham Hotspur especially attracts the ire of the White Hart Lane contingent, and is something which continues to exist to this day.

[edit] Transfer

Gallas's contract was due to expire in May 2007. He refused to sign a new contract with Chelsea on improved terms after saying the club didn't offer him enough money and expressed a wish to play in Italy, with Juventus and AC Milan both interested[1]. Chelsea however did not agree to a transfer request by the player in May 2006 as they considered Gallas an important first team member.

After the World Cup, Gallas refused to turn up at Chelsea's pre-season American tour[2], citing tiredness after the tournament. Upon assigning squad numbers the club gave new arrival Michael Ballack Gallas' number 13 shirt as a punishment for not turning up, an indication that his future at Stamford Bridge was in serious doubt. Nonetheless, he was given a warm reception by the fans at the club's membership day at Stamford Bridge.

With the scandal affecting Italian football, a move out of England looked impossible; not only were the major Italian clubs such as Juventus given significant penalties, a number of players moved to other European clubs such as Real Madrid. The only club to express an interest was Arsenal. In an implied admission that Gallas would be able to force himself out of Stamford Bridge, Chelsea signed Dutch defender Khalid Boulahrouz[3].

On 1 September 2006, Gallas transferred to Arsenal as part of a deal that took Ashley Cole to Chelsea[4] and Arsenal also received the sum of £5 million. The press reported that José Mourinho was furious Gallas had been allowed to move to their rivals and that the Cole/Gallas swap deal had been forced through by Chelsea executive Peter Kenyon. After the transfer Chelsea issued a statement that Gallas threatened to deliberately score own goals if he was not allowed to leave Chelsea.[5].

William Gallas rejected Chelsea's claims and accused the West Londoners of lacking class and 'hiding behind false accusations'.[6].

Claudio Ranieri, the former Chelsea manager who signed Gallas from Marseilles said of the allegations that, "I cannot believe these stories. It is absolutely incredible. I signed William and he was always a good professional on the pitch. Of course, I don't know what has happened in the last two years."

Professional Footballers' Association chief executive Gordon Taylor declared that the whole episode has left a "bad taste in the mouth" and that Chelsea's statement should be taken "with a large pinch of salt."

[edit] Arsenal

Gallas signed a 4 year contract with Arsenal, where he will be wearing the number 10 shirt vacated by the recently retired Dennis Bergkamp. In an interview with the October 2006 issue of the Official Arsenal Magazine, Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger explained the rather peculiar decision:

'Number three was uncomfortable for him and I had given the rest of the numbers out. In the end I thought it might be a good idea to give the number ten to a defender, because a striker would suffer a lot with the comparison with Dennis. At first I was reluctant to give Dennis's number out, and especially to a defender, but overall I think it's better that way.'

Gallas made his full debut for The Gunners at left-back in the 1-1 home draw against Middlesbrough on 9 September 2006 and scored his first goal against Sheffield United on 23 September 2006. William Gallas is seen to be amongst the top 'two or three' defenders in world football by club and international team-mate, Thierry Henry.[citation needed] Gallas has also scored for Arsenal twice this season against Liverpool, one from a corner in Arsenals 3-0 win over Liverpool at The Emirates, and he scored Arsenal's only goal in their 4-1 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield. This was also from a corner.

[edit] International

Gallas was a part of the France Under 18 European Championship winning side. He also played for France junior team in the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship.

He is now a regular member of the French national team. He made his full France debut in a 5-0 demolition of Slovenia in a Euro 2004 qualifier in October 2002, and was a member of the squad for the tournament's finals. He was in the 2003 Confederations Cup winning side, and more recently, he was a member of the squad that reached the 2006 FIFA World Cup final.

Following the World Cup, he criticised the Portugal team for diving, saying that when the French faced them in the semi-finals of the 2006 World Cup, they needed to look out for their unfair style of play[7].

Gallas won his 50th cap for France in the 3-1 win against Italy on 6 September 2006 at the Stade de France in a Euro 2008 qualifying match[8].

[edit] International goals

# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1. 17 August 2005 Montpellier, France Côte d'Ivoire 3-0 Win Friendly
2. 16 August 2006 Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia & Herzegovina 2-1 Win Friendly

[edit] Honours

[edit] International

[edit] With Caen

  • Ligue 2 Championship Winner 1995-96

[edit] With Chelsea

[edit] Trivia

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Gallas drops exit hint", Sky Sports, 2006-05-01. Retrieved on 2006-09-05.
  2. ^ "William Gallas statement", Chelsea F.C., 2006-08-01. Retrieved on 2006-09-05.
  3. ^ "Reaction: Mourinho delighted with energetic Essien", Chelsea F.C., 2006-08-20. Retrieved on 2006-08-21.
  4. ^ "Cole moved after deadline", The Daily Telegraph, 2006-09-02. Retrieved on 2006-09-05.
  5. ^ "Gallas 'issued own-goal threat'", BBC Sport, 2006-09-05. Retrieved on 2006-09-05.
  6. ^ "Gallas denies Chelsea claims", Sky Sports, 2006-09-05. Retrieved on 2006-09-05.
  7. ^ William Gallas warns France to watch out for Portugal (2006-07-05). Retrieved on 2006-09-07.
  8. ^ "GALLAS William", Fédération Française de Football. Retrieved on 2006-09-08. (in French)

[edit] External links


Flag of France France squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup Runners-up Flag of France

1 Landreau | 2 Boumsong | 3 Abidal | 4 Vieira | 5 Gallas | 6 Makélélé | 7 Malouda | 8 Dhorasoo | 9 Govou | 10 Zidane | 11 Wiltord | 12 Henry | 13 Silvestre | 14 Saha | 15 Thuram | 16 Barthez | 17 Givet | 18 Diarra | 19 Sagnol | 20 Trézéguet | 21 Chimbonda | 22 Ribéry | 23 Coupet | Coach: Domenech
Arsenal F.C. - Current Squad

1 Lehmann | 2 Diaby | 4 Fàbregas | 5 Touré | 6 Senderos | 7 Rosický | 8 Ljungberg | 9 Baptista | 10 Gallas | 11 van Persie | 13 Hleb | 14 Henry | 15 Denílson | 16 Flamini | 19 Gilberto | 20 Djourou | 21 Poom | 22 Clichy | 24 Almunia | 25 Adebayor | 27 Eboué | 30 Aliadière | 31 Hoyte | 32 Walcott | 33 Connolly | 43 Randall | 45 Traoré | Manager: Wenger
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