William Gallas

William Gallas

Gallas in action for Arsenal against Watford
Personal information
Full name	William Gallas
Height	1.82 m (5 ft 11+1⁄2 in)
Position(s)	Centre back/Left Back/Right Back
Team information
Current team	Arsenal
Number	10
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 10 September 2008

William Gallas (born 17 August, 1977 in Asnières-sur-Seine) is a French international footballer of Guadeloupian descent who currently plays for and captains Arsenal in the English Premier League. He plays as a Centre Back.

Club career

Early career

William Gallas is a graduate of the French Football academy at Clairefontaine. He started his professional career at second division SM Caen helping them to promotion as champions in 1996. He was subsequently transferred to Olympique Marseille in 1997. Gallas spent four seasons at Marseille, playing alongside Robert Pirès among others. He made his debut in the UEFA Champions League playing for Marseille, and he also played against Chelsea in that competition in 2000.

Chelsea

Former 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. Marseille is in the Bouches du Rhône département of France where all addresses begin with a 13. Under Ranieri, Gallas developed centre-back partnerships with Marcel Desailly and later with John Terry; his partnership with Terry included a run of 16 games without conceding a single goal. He also played at right-back at times. It was with Chelsea and under Ranieri where Gallas obtained his first international cap.

Gallas was part of Chelsea's team which won back-to-back Premier League titles and a League Cup under Ranieri's successor José Mourinho. However due to a 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 some vital goals as Chelsea retained their title in the 2005-06 in English football season at Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool and Manchester United. Gallas called the goal against Tottenham, a 25-yard injury-time winner, his "greatest ever" on Chelsea TV.

Gallas's contract with Chelsea 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 Serie A, with Juventus and A.C. Milan both interested. 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 2006 FIFA World Cup, Gallas refused to turn up at Chelsea's pre-season American tour, 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. His reception at the club's membership day at Stamford Bridge was mixed, with sections of fans clapping him while some fans booed and other remained unmoved.

Despite reported links with several clubs around Europe, a move out of England looked unlikely. The 2006 Serie A scandal stopped any interest from Juventus or A.C. Milan, and the only club to express an interest was Arsenal. In a move which further crowded the ranks of defenders at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea signed Dutch defender Khalid Boulahrouz (though it should be noted that Boularouz had already been loaned out away from Chelsea by the summer of 2007).

On 1 September 2006, Gallas transferred to Arsenal as part of a deal that took Ashley Cole to Chelsea 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. Gallas rejected Chelsea's claims and accused the West Londoners of lacking class and 'hiding behind false accusations'. Claudio Ranieri, the former Chelsea manager who signed Gallas from Marseille said of the allegations; "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." However, it should be noted that Gallas frequently voiced his distaste both for the club, and the position he was playing there in the weeks prior to his move, at one point vowing that he would never again play for Chelsea whatever the circumstances. Among the Chelsea faithful Gallas's acrimonious departure turned him almost instantly from a cult hero into an object of betrayl and hatred. PFA 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."

Arsenal

Gallas applauding supporters.

2006-07 season

Gallas signed a four-year contract with Arsenal, where he took the number 10 shirt vacated by the recently-retired Dennis Bergkamp. In an interview in the October 2006 issue of the Official Arsenal Magazine, Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger explained the rather peculiar decision to hand him the squad number 10 (traditionally a forward's number):

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.

2007-08 season

Gallas was confirmed as Arsenal captain on 9 August 2007, with Kolo Touré serving as vice-captain. This caused some controversy as Gilberto Silva was expected to receive the captain's arm band. Many people have questioned Wenger for this decision. His first competitive game as Arsenal captain was on 12 August 2007 against Fulham F.C. which ended in a 2-1 victory for Arsenal. Gallas suffered a groin injury in the game against Blackburn on 19 August, but returned to play for Arsenal in their 2-0 victory over Bolton Wanderers on 20 October. In the traditional Arsenal vs Manchester United clash at the Emirates Stadium on 3 November, he scored a last minute goal to give the Gunners a draw.

On 24 November 2007 Gallas scored against Wigan when Bacary Sagna crossed in and Gallas fired a header through the arms of Wigan's goalkeeper Pollitt to open the deadlock.

On 16 December 2007 Gallas scored against his old club Chelsea, which was to be the only goal in the match to secure 3 points for Arsenal. Gallas later reflected on his goal against former club Chelsea, claiming that "When Cesc sent the corner in for my goal, I saw Petr Čech come off his line and to be honest I was sure he would catch it. So I was surprised when he didn't take it, and it was just a reflex reaction to head it into the goal. I just happened to be there at the right time".

Gallas attracted some criticism as a result of his actions in a 2-2 draw against Birmingham City on 23 February 2008 -- a game in which his teammate Eduardo da Silva broke his leg following a challenge by Martin Taylor. When Gaël Clichy of Arsenal conceded a penalty in injury time at the end of the second half, Gallas walked into the Birmingham half, apparently in protest.He stood there as Birmingham striker James McFadden converted the penalty. He then had to be restrained as he appeared to confront the crowd in fury. After the final whistle, Gallas sat down on the pitch for two minutes as the rest of the players left the field and started crying, before being consoled by manager Arsène Wenger.

Gallas also scored for Arsenal against Bolton in a 2-3 win on 29 March 2008, starting the comeback which 10-man Arsenal ultimately completed.

Amid speculation that Gallas would be replaced as club captain following his behaviour during the Birmingham City game, Wenger said that he would consider the matter at the end of the season.

2008-09 season

In August 2008, it was announced that Gallas would remain the club's captain for the 2008-2009 season. As of the 2008-09, Gallas has proved especially prolific in the Champions League. He has scored 3 goals so far in Arsenal's campaign, 2 against FC Twente and an equaliser againstDynamo Kiev. On October 25 2008 it was reported that William Gallas was spotted coming out of a night club with a fag which one newspaper reported saying Gallas is a regular smoker on around 25 a day

International career

Gallas was a part of the France U-18 European Championship winning side. He also played for the France U-20 team in the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship along with fellow Frenchmen Willy Sagnol and Thierry Henry.

He is now a regular member for France, forming Raymond Domenech's first-choice centre-back partnership with Lilian Thuram. He made his full France debut in a 5-0 victory over Slovenia in a Euro 2004 qualifier on 12 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 2006 World Cup, he criticised the Portugal team for diving, saying that when the French faced them in the semi-finals they needed to look out for their unfair style of play.

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.

Honours

Caen

• Ligue 2: 1995-96

Chelsea

• Premier League: 2004-05, 2005-06
• League Cup: 2005
• FA Community Shield: 2005

External links

• Official web site
• Profile at Arsenal.com
• William Gallas profile at the French Football Federation official web site Template:Fr icon
• William Gallas at Soccerbase
• FootballDatabase profile and stats
• 4thegame.com profile

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