William Gallas was born one 17th August 1977 in Asnières-sur-Seine, France, and is a graduate of the French Football academy at Clairefontaine. 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. 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.
William Gallas was born one 17th August 1977 in Asnières-sur-Seine, France, and is a graduate of the French Football academy at Clairefontaine. 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. 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.
In May 2001, Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri bought Gallas for £6.2 million. At Chelsea, William developed into a world class defender. His main attributes are his ability to mark players and read the game, but his most prized asset is his pace. This made him an ideal complement to the solid and hard tackling centre back John Terry and he formed part of the successful Chelsea team that won back-to-back Premiership titles and a League Cup under José Mourinho, Ranieri's successor. Gallas also scored vital goals as Chelsea retained their title in the 2005-06 season. In September 2006, he transferred to Arsenal as part of a deal that took Ashley Cole to Chelsea with Arsenal also receiving £5 million. Gallas is now a regular member of the French national team. 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. William Gallas won his 50th cap for France in the 3-1 win against Italy on 6 September 2006.
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