• Premier League

Huntelaar linked to Arsenal

Klaas-Jan Huntelaar rejected Erik Meijer's claims © Getty Images

Enlarge

Related Links

• News: Wenger: Wilshere's becoming our Cesc
  

Arsenal's Premier League trip to Aston Villa is exclusively live on ESPN on Saturday - 5.30pm kick-off. Click here for how to subscribe

Schalke's Netherlands international striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar has been linked with a move to Arsenal.

Speaking before the German side beat Olympiakos 1-0 to reach the knockout stages of the Champions League, Sky pundit Erik Meijer said he believed Huntelaar would soon be on his way.

"According to the information I have, Huntelaar will be gone in the winter. Arsenal are the favourites to land him," former striker Meijer said.

During his playing days Meijer's agent was Arnold Oosterveer, who now represents Huntelaar. But Huntelaar, 29, played down Meijer's claims after the match, telling reporters: "He obviously knows more than I know. I don't know anything about it."

And Schalke general manager Horst Heldt said his club would not be selling their star man - who is out of contract in the summer - adding: "It's nice that other clubs have those thoughts.

"They should come to us and get their offer rejected. If needed, we'd write that down so they know we are not interested in selling Huntelaar."

Schalke followed Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund into the knockout stages on Wednesday thanks to a 77th-minute goal from Austria international left-back Christian Fuchs.

"The relief is enormous," Schalke skipper Benedikt Howedes said. "We did it the hard way. We had several chances to score and weren't able to take them, but we managed to get the decisive goal - we can be proud."

Huntelaar, Jermaine Jones and Lewis Holtby all missed good chances in the opening 10 minutes before Fuchs showed them how it was done with a long-range strike.

"I'm really happy that I could help the team," Fuchs said. "We're all relieved that we won and qualified for the last 16. Now our aim must be to finish top of the group. We have a good side and we can still achieve a lot in this Champions League campaign."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.