Sunderland target £11m Gudjohnsen

Peter Reid, the Sunderland manager, is preparing to offer Chelsea £11m for their unsettled striker Eidur Gudjohnsen. Reid is willing to pay a club-record fee for the Icelander as he would be a potent partner for Kevin Phillips in attack. Gudjohnsen is in dispute with Chelsea over their failure to offer him a two-year contract extension and they could be willing to sell for £15m.

Reid, however, is hopeful of paying less than that and a meeting with Gudjohnsen's agent has been arranged.

Meanwhile, the Chelsea centre-back, William Gallas, is on Leeds United's shortlist of players to replace Rio Ferdinand and is available for £7.5m his agent revealed yesterday.

According to the agent, the Leeds chairman, Peter Ridsdale, is considering making an offer for the 24-year-old, who has a clause in his contract allowing him to leave for £1.5m more than the £6m he cost from Marseilles last summer. If Ridsdale does make the offer, Gallas will be allowed to speak to Leeds and decide where his future lies.

Nigel Martyn, Leeds' goalkeeper, insisted yesterday that he did not have an argument with manager Terry Venables over his decision to withdraw from the club's pre-season tour of Asia and Australia.

Reports suggested that Venables had dropped Martyn as first-choice goalkeeper because he decided not to make the trip, but Martyn said he was given the manager's permission to remain in England. "I told Terry Venables that, after playing in all of the Leeds games last season and then joining England for the World Cup, my body would be in better condition if I stayed behind and trained in England – to which he was understanding," Martyn said.