TRANSFER TALK

Last updated : 09 July 2002 By Editor

Arsenal will aim to strengthen their defence this afternoon when they complete the signing of Lille's Pascal Cygan.

"We were at Arsenal this morning and spoke with the club to discuss terms of the contract," Cygan's agent Frédéric Dobraje said yesterday. "Discussions are still going on but we should finalise the deal on Tuesday afternoon."

AC Milan have signed Sam Dalla Bona from Chelsea for an undisclosed fee.

Nigerian defender Taribo West could be set for a return to the Premiership with Bolton after being released by Kaiserslauten.

Bolton boss Sam Allardyce said: 'We are in talks with Taribo West's representatives regarding a possible move to the Reebok Stadium. Taribo is quality player with a great deal of experience. He is a player that I would like to have in my squad.'

City chairman David Bernstein has warned Kevin Keegan that he will have to trim his squad following his summer spending spree. Keegan has splashed out around £20million on seven new players and Bernstein thinks the squad has become too big - again.

'We've not put undue pressure on Kevin to sell players,' said Bernstein. 'Any squad has to be balanced and of course the manger knows that. Kevin and I and the board have agreed that we need to move some players, but we're not in a situation that it has to be done with any urgency. We will wait and see what happens.'

Cue panic pre-Christmas and Keegan storming out in a huff.