The fall-out from Arsenal dropping out of the title race could lead to the departures of star midfielders Mathieu Flamini and Alexander Hleb. Frenchman Flamini has yet to sign a new contract at Emirates Stadium despite talks opening in December.

Bayern Munich today became the latest top European club to show interest in the 24-year-old, who is already admired by Juventus and AC Milan. All three clubs are aware that his current deal with Arsenal expires in the summer.

Hleb is also attracting attention in Italy with Inter Milan reportedly ready to make a £12 million move for the former Stuttgart star.

Both Arsenal and the Italian champions denied reports of talks taking place last month, but Hleb's agent Nikolai Shpilevski is doing little to dampen speculation.

He said: "I'm often approached about Hleb. I have nothing to hide. Alexander is a world-class player. Real Madrid, Juventus, Inter and Barcelona are interested in him. But there are no official offers."

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has vowed to stop a mass exodus from the club at the end of the season.

He said: "The team are very strong. It's important to keep them together in the summer."

But Wenger was today urged to use the summer to at least find a new captain.

Former Arsenal star Lee Dixon does not believe moody centre-half William Gallas is up to the job. He said: "I know for a fact that morale in the dressing-room went down after the Birmingham game [when Gallas sulked on the pitch after a late penalty].

"Players were looking at the captain and asking 'What is he doing?' He wasn't acting like a leader and hasn't done for much of the season. Real captains cannot let their emotions take over, never ever, as they should always be thinking of their team-mates and leading by example. Gallas doesn't appear capable of doing that."

The French centre-half was today, however, doing his best to lift club morale in the wake of Sunday's 2-1 defeat at Manchester United which has left the Gunners facing a third successive season without silverware.

Gallas said: "What is very positive from last season is that we should now finish third in the Premier League and we also reached the quarter-final of the Champions League, so we have improved.

"However we cannot accept just that because when the season started we wanted to win everything, but then slowly, slowly we started to lose. Now at the end, we do not get anything. That is a great shame for the club.

"We have to speak together and to know what was wrong. We are not far away, but we will have to see what we can do next season.

"I hope we can get something. I am a competitor and want to win everything. You remember only the people who win trophies."

Gallas also cursed the club's run of bad luck which coincided with their loss of form over the last two months. He added: "You can play well, but if the luck is not there, then you will win nothing.

"The luck went from us a few months ago. People have to understand that. We drew too many games at home, and away we lost important points.

"For a few months it has been difficult for us to react to conceding a goal, we have been going down very quickly.

"When the season started we were not like this and I don't know why we have been in trouble now after scoring a goal. We have to work on that for next season."