The Catalan giants are stepping up their interest in Borussia Dortmund's midfielder Ilkay Gundogan as Arsenal and Manchester United are also eyeing the 23-year-old.

The German international with Turkish descent has been side-lined with a back injury since August, but transfer speculations around his future won’t stop.

Reports in Spain suggest that Gundogan’s father – who represents his son in contract talks – has already met with members of Barcelona’s board to discuss a potential move.

Gundogan, who currently only sits on £25.000-a-week wages, could leave The Black and Yellows in summer for a decent transfer fee before his contract ends in 2015.

Dortmund’s chief executive officre Hans-Joachim Watzke confirmed recently that his club doesn’t want to lose any players additional to Robert Lewandowski, who is (not yet) bound to join Bayern Munich after the season.

But Watzke indicated that Gundogan’s future is also under question. “Only with Ilkay Gundogan we don’t know what will happen. We would obviously like to extend his contract.”

Ever since Gundogan has joined Klopp’s Dortmund in 2011 his development has gone steadily uphill and the midfielder has been the motor and Dortmund’s last year’s Champions League campaign.