Wilshere tries to persuade Babel to join Arsenal

Using his Twitter account, the 18-year-old midfielder wrote: 'what's happening babel!!? When you gonna come to Arsenal haha.'

It may be seen as evidence that Wilshere rates the flying Dutchman as a good player and one he would like to see in the ranks at the north London club.

While the message appears to take a jovial tone, the Gunners have been linked with Babel in previous transfer windows and manager Arsene Wenger is known to be a fan of the player.

However, one potential obstacle in the way of any deal is the Frenchman's insistence this week that he does not need to spend money in January in order to boost his side's domestic and European challenge.

His words followed a 2-0 victory for his second-string line-up against Wigan that booked the club a place in the semi-finals of the Carling Cup.

Babel could be a realistic target for Arsenal, who currently sit in third place in the Premier League table, as he has made only five appearances for Liverpool this season, all from the bench.

In total, he has pulled on the Anfield club's red shirt a total of 140 times since a switch from Ajax in 2007 worth more than £10 million.

This story has been reproduced from today's media. It does not necessarily represent the position of Liverpool Football Club.