Monday, August 11 2008 -- According to the British tabloid News of the World, Premiership giants Arsenal are preparing a bid for the FC Barcelona midfield general Yaya Toure this summer in order to fill up the yawning gap in the middle of the park.

Arsenal have lost midfielder Gilberto Silva, Alexander Hleb and Mattheiu Flamini this summer and star playmaker Cesc Fabregas is more or less without a playmaker. It has now emerged that Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is busy scanning Europe for a top draw midfield marshall as the 2008-2009 rushes onto the doorsteps.

News of the World reveals that Wenger is interested in signing Yaya Toure, who is the younger brother of the Arsenal defender Kolo Toure. Last season Yaya did hint that one day he would like to play aongside his brother Kolo at the Emirates but given that Barca signed him only last summer, it is sort of improbable that he would like to move off the Camp Nou bus so soon.