Dimitar Berbatov
Dimitar Berbatov should stay at Fulham, his teammate claims as Arsenal circle. Reuters

Fulham winger Alexander Kacaniklic has argued that Dimitar Berbatov is needed at Fulham and should turn his back on interest from clubs such as Arsenal to focus on helping the club stay in the Premier League.

Berbatov joined Fulham from Manchester United in 2012 after failing to impress Sir Alex Ferguson on a consistent basis. At the time he had taken top scoring honours in the league at United but was cast aside for the incoming Javier Hernandez who appeared to be a better fit for Wayne Rooney than the Bulgaria international.

Whilst with the Cottagers Berbatov has been handed the captaincy and has so far scored five times in 15 appearances this season. The 32 year old has admitted to feeling unsatisfied at the club who underwent a managerial change late last year and with the side currently just two points above the relegation zone he could be in the market for another club this month.

Arsenal have been touted as a possible suitor for the striker, although Arsene Wenger has denied the club are actively pursuing the former Tottenham striker.

But Kacaniklic is hopeful that Berbatov stays at Fulham to ensure the club become stable Premier League competitors again under Rene Meulensteen.

"Of course, we need him, he's a good player who scores goals and creates goals, he's important for us, especially as we need to stay up," he told Metro.

"It is up to him what he wants to do but we need the best players to make sure we stay in the Premier League and Berba is one of them."

Arsenal are believed to be on the lookout for more firepower to help Olivier Giroud up front. Currently the side only have the Frenchman and Nicklas Bendtner to act as out-and-out strikers, and with forward Theo Walcott recently suffering an ACL injury which will keep him out of action for six months.

While Wenger may have denied a pursuit for Berbatov the manager is often cagey on transfer targets and there's still a long time left before deadline day rolls around for the club to make a bid.