Arsenal plan summer swoop for Borussia Dortmund star Marco Reus as Theo Walcott replacement

Arsenal are considering an approach in signing Borussia Dortmund star Marco Reus to replace Theo Walcott, according to the Telegraph.

The England international's contract at the Emirates will expire after the end of the next season. He spent most part of last year on the treatment table and since returning from injury, has struggled to break into the starting XI.

Walcott denied any reports suggesting that he had fallen out with Arsene Wenger. The Frenchman admitted the contract talks were ongoing with the player, something that has been denied by the forward.

His latest admission has alerted Liverpool and Manchester United, who are interested in securing his services. Wenger's priority in the summer is to sign a central defender and a central midfielder, along with a goalkeeper.

Lukas Podolski, Walcott and Joel Campbell's future at the Emirates remain uncertain. The German forward is on loan at Inter Milan, while the Colombian international was allowed to join Villarreal on loan as a part of Gabriel Paulista's transfer in January.

This has forced the Arsenal manager to make an approach for an attacking player and he has set his sights on Reus. The German international can play in multiple positions and also fits into Wenger's 4-2-3-1 system.

Reus has been on the wishlist of Europe's elite clubs. However, the 25-year-old recently signed a new deal, which will keep him at Signal Iduna Park until 2019.

Any move from Arsenal in their pursuit of Reus will see them face competition from the Premier League rivals. The Telegraph claims Chelsea are also interested, while Manchester United have long been admirers of the Dortmund midfielder.

Meanwhile, Arsenal defender Gabriel has revealed that he always wanted to be a defender after realising at a very young age that he cannot be an attacker.

"When we are little, we always want to be on the attack, but I realised that it wouldn't work, so I kept going backwards and backwards," Gabriel told Arsenal's official website.

"The only thing I didn't try was being a goalkeeper. I stopped there. So I started to play in defence and I started to do well, I started to enjoy it. I made my decision, I thought: 'This it is! I'm not leaving here'

"I began enjoying it and I started to want to defend, to fight not to let them in, not to let the other team score goals."