Two weeks ago it was confirmed that Ilkay Gündogan would not be extending his contract at Borussia Dortmund, which currently runs until summer 2016.

Eager not to lose him for nothing, the German club have put the midfielder up for sale. Last week saw sporting director Michael Zorc telling Sky:

“Gündogan wants to leave at the end of the season, that’s what he has told us.

“Of course we would prefer him not to move to a competitor in the Bundesliga.”

Publicly, Gündogan has suggested that he could play for Dortmund for one more year before leaving on a free, but the club doesn’t want that situation.

Manchester United have been strongly linked with the midfielder but Michael Zorc has denied that there has even been an approach for the player as of yet, let alone an offer with any details agreed.

Today Sport Witness have reported that SportBild are linking Gündogan to Arsenal.

The magazine says that both Manchester clubs, and Bayern Munich, are put off by the injury problems Gündogan faced last year. Arsenal, in need of another midfielder, are not so concerned.

The article says that Gündogan’s cousin – who is also his agent – has had talks with both us and Atlético Madrid, but the Spanish side weren’t so keen just a month or so ago.

We have been heavily linked with a move for Morgan Schneiderlin but if Arsène Wenger can grab a truly talented player with superb technique and use him in that deep role instead it wouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. Francis Coquelin has forced his way into the first team but has, on a number of occasions, been the man sacrificed when Wenger wants his team to push on for a goal.

With Mikel Arteta and Mathieu Flamini both ageing it’s certain that Wenger will want another player capable of performing as the deepest central midfielder before long.

Gündogan would probably be available for about £25M but maybe even less if there’s no competition for his signature.

A back injury had the midfielder on the sidelines for over 12 months but he has missed just two Bundesliga games since returning to fitness in October of last year. After staying fit for seven months it is time he reached his previous levels of performance.

Arsenal could do with Gündogan and are sure to be interested on some level, but SportBild aren’t the most reliable of sourced.

This is certainly a deal that would make sense and Dortmund do like to get business done very early, but it’s questionable that it’s very far along just yet.