Arsenal move for £6.8m midfielder Rosicky

Arsenal are poised to sign the highly rated Czech Republic midfielder Tomas Rosicky from Borussia Dortmund for £6.8m. The 25-year-old was allowed to leave the national team's World Cup preparations in Austria to have a medical - which he passed - in London and to agree a deal with the Gunners, according to the Czech coach Karel Bruckner.

"I am surprised that no one has found out about this before," he said last night. "We have tried to keep quiet about it but I have to admit that Tomas is there for a medical."

The former Sparta Prague player had been expected to join Atlético Madrid, who have been tracking him for several years, after they agreed a deal with Dortmund. But the Spaniards failed to transfer an initial payment before the deadline yesterday and Dortmund then got in contact with other clubs who had already shown an interest, among them Arsenal.

"He has travelled with his manager Pavel Paska to London," a Dortmund official, Hans-Joachim Watzke, said. "The deal with Atlético is off. There were several other clubs interested but Tomas had his preferences."

Rosicky cost Dortmund £18m when he joined from Sparta in 2001 - a Bundesliga record - but his current contract with Dortmund, which runs to 2008, allows him to leave for £6.8m.

He made an instant impact upon his arrival in the Bundesliga but has struggled in the past two seasons and was one of the fans' main targets when the club faced bankruptcy last season because they felt that he was not pulling his weight.

His international team-mate Pavel Nedved, however, said recently that "Rosicky would be the perfect answer to Juventus's creative problems in midfield" and he is an integral part of Bruckner's national team.

Paska announced four weeks ago that his client had joined Atlético, but Rosicky has maintained that Madrid was not his only option. "I am not taking anything for granted," he said recently. "There are some people at the club who want me to leave and some want me to stay. I haven't ruled out staying at Dortmund. I feel that we are making progress and we are playing more attacking football now."

Rosicky has scored 20 goals in 154 games for Dortmund in his five seasons in Germany.