Galliani: Arsenal willing to talk

10:36am Wednesday 9th July 2008

AC Milan vice president Adriano Galliani claims Arsenal have written to him to say they are willing to discuss selling Emmanuel Adebayor.

Speaking on Antenna 3 on Tuesday evening, Galliani said he had received a letter in which Arsenal said they had changed their position and were now open to a deal for the 24-year-old.

"I will reveal to you a scoop," Galliani told the program. "I have received a letter from Arsenal that says, 'Following our communication of June 13, in which we informed you we were not willing to deal over Adebayor, now we are writing to tell you that we will consider a deal if it still interests you'."

Galliani made it clear he is still interested in signing the Togo international, who scored 30 goals in 48 games for Arsenal last year.

"If Adebayor decides to leave Arsenal, we are certainly interested," he said.

However, Milan have balked at the asking price quoted for Adebayor in recent days and Galliani admitted that the Rossoneri would struggle to compete financially if Barcelona - also said to be interested in Adebayor - entered the bidding.

Earlier on Tuesday, Galliani was quoted as saying that the two clubs were far apart on a valuation for Adebayor, with Arsenal thought to want 45 million euros for their star striker.

Milan are thought to want to sign one more attacking player this summer, and are pursuing a number of options, of which Adebayor is just one.

Galliani also expressed an interest in Russian striker Roman Pavlyuchenko and said the club was also looking at one other unnamed player.

However, he declined to provide an update on the club's pursuit of Barcelona playmaker Ronaldinho.

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