Gunners target van Bommel

Reports in Holland suggest that The Gunners have enquired about the player to his agent Karel Janssen and are keen to bring him to Highbury.

Leeds, Manchester United and Barcelona have all been linked with the 24-year-old, who scored against England for Holland in a friendly international last August.

Arsenal view the skilful midfielder as an ideal replacement for Patrick Vieira, who is still attracting interest from Real Madrid.

Real have admitted that the French star is one of their top targets for next season and with The Gunners fearing they could lose their influential star they are looking into the possibility of signing van Bommel.

Van Bommel only signed a new deal with PSV at the start of this season, which keeps him at Philips Stadion until 2005, but the Dutch champions know they face a fight to hold onto him.

PSV would like to keep him, but they could be tempted to do business if they are offered a deal in the region of £15 million for the former Fortuna Sittard ace.

Meanwhile, Arsenal's Dutch midfielder Giovanni van Bronckhorst has welcomed the club's reported interest in his fellow countryman.

The former Rangers man admitted that van Bommel had asked him about Arsenal and that he would love to have him at Highbury.

"I've heard that there is a possibility of the PSV midfielder Mark van Bommel coming to Arsenal, and if that did happen it would be great for the club," van Bronckhorst told his official website. "He's a very talented player who has done a lot of good things in Holland.

"I know him pretty well, and when I first came here he was beginning to think about playing abroad, so asked me a lot about Arsenal. Obviously I told him what a great club Arsenal was, and what fantastic players there are here.

"He was very interested and quizzed me about how things were going for me. All I could do is say good things to him, and it would be great if that had any influence on his decision if Arsenal want to sign him.

"Obviously, I'm sure he has a lot of clubs to choose from, and we'll have to wait to see what happens, but, like I said, he's a great talent and I'd love to play alongside him.

"It obviously helps to have players in your team with whom you can also work at international level, and it would certainly be a good move for Mark."