Arsene Wenger is set to reignite his interest in Hamburg's £15million-rated defender Vincent Kompany.
The Belgian centre-back had been on the radar of the Arsenal boss prior to his move to the Bundesliga for £5.1million two years ago.
Now Wenger believes the 22-year-old star, rated one of the best young defenders in Europe, is ready for the Premier League.
Kompany has Champions League experience having played against some of the top teams in Europe during his days at Anderlecht.
He sparked the interest of Chelsea during the reign of Jose Mourinho after impressing against the Blues. But after moving to Hamburg Kompany rejected a move because he didn't want to follow the examples of a string of top players whom he believed had moved to Stamford Bridge only to see their careers stall.
Kompany said then: "Chelsea came in for me but I refused although I could have earned double what I had at Anderlecht. I would rather never go to Chelsea than go at a bad moment."
Arsenal were were joined by AC Milan in the race to sign goal keeper Heurelho Gomes, who is set to quit Dutch club, PSV Eindhoven in the summer.