Bayern's Owen is Arsenal target

Arsenal are interested in signing Bayern Munich's England midfielder Owen Hargreaves.

Canadian-born Hargreaves, who has a Welsh mother and English father, has impressed the Highbury hierarchy and they could move for the 21-year-old player this summer if given any encouragement by his German club.

Hargreaves, who is valued at around £10 million, is highly rated by England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson and forced his way into his starting lineup for the first two World Cup group matches against Sweden and Argentina.

He injured a calf early in the first half against Argentina, however, and, although fit was left out of the quarter-final against Brazil.

For a player still six months short of his 22nd birthday Hargreaves has considerable club and international experience under his belt, including collecting a European Cup winner's medal with Bayern Munich last year.

Among Hargreaves' qualities is his fitness level, a fact highlighted by Eriksson when he confirmed he would be talking with the Football Association this summer about possible ways of reducing the workload on English players.

"All our players except Owen Hargreaves play in the Premiership and he is the fittest player in the squad," said Eriksson.

"A smaller league would be one solution but that is impossible. A winter break is another idea but again it is very difficult."

Arsenal's veteran goalkeeper David Seaman looks set to extend his international career in a bid to erase the memory of his blunder in the 2-1 defeat against Brazil.

The 38-year-old intended to quit international football at the end of the World Cup and finish his playing days with one more season at Arsenal, where he would then become the club's goalkeeping coach.

But Seaman does not want the lingering memory of his days with England to be the misjudgement of Ronaldinho's free-kick that secured victory for Brazil last Friday.

Eriksson has made it clear to Seaman that he still has much to offer his country as England start the qualifying programme for the next European Championship finals in the autumn.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger will show his faith in Seaman's abilities with the offer of a new one-year contract and he will also offer a new deal to England defender Martin Keown.

Meanwhile, Arsenal's match against Birmingham is Sky TV's first live game of the season and has been moved to Sunday 18 August