Highly-rated midfielder Tranquillo Barnetta has made it clear that he’s ready to move on after spending the last four seasons of his career at Bundesliga outfit Bayer Leverkusen.

The 23-year-old joined the Werkself from Hannover in 2005 and quickly developed into an important first team member at Bayer. Barnetta has made more than 120 league appearances for Leverkusen so far.

“The chance that I’ll leave Bayer Leverkusen this summer is quite big. I’ve been playing here for a long time already and I feel like I need a new challenge,” said Barnetta to Blick.

“However, I’m not leaving the club for just any team. I want to make the next step in my career and join a bigger team. I’m full of confidence though that I’ll find an interesting club.”

Barnetta was already being linked with Arsenal earlier this year, but the attacking midfielder is reportedly also being targeted by several Serie A outfits. The former Sankt Gallen starlet will probably be replaced by Toni Kroos at Leverkusen. The youngster is on loan at the Werkself from Bayern Munich until 2010.