Arsenal and Manchester United are set to battle for Blackburn Rovers striker Roque Santa Cruz.

The Mail on Sunday says Paraguay striker Santa Cruz is ready to move to the Emirates Stadium, but a fee will have to be agreed with Blackburn, who signed him last summer from Bayern Munich for just £3.7million but is now expected to fetch £12m. United boss Sir Alex Ferguson is also keen.

Santa Cruz was seen as an inspired purchase by manager Mark Hughes, who last month left Ewood to take over as boss at Manchester City.

But the striker, who has recently been on goalscoring World Cup qualification duty for his country, may also be in no hurry to decide his future given the options which could be open to him.