Arsenal and Tottenham could miss out on striker with 64 international caps

It is rare that a top forward is without a club come the start of the season. When Ciprian Marica left Schalke last season he would have been confident that he would have a new club, starting a new chapter in his career before the season had started. Arsenal and Spurs were both reportedly interested in his services, but neither were able to secure a move for the Romanian. Now talkSPORT are reporting that the north London pair may miss out on the goal-getter as La Liga side Rayo Vallecano look set to make a move.

The 27-year-old , who is currently without a club, started his playing career at Dinamo Bucuresti before being snapped up by Shakhtar Donetsk in 2004. He then represented Stuttgart from 2007-2011 before he played for Schalke for two years.

Between the aforementioned clubs, Marica scored 68 goals in 330 games, so he isn't exactly prolific. However, a large chunk of his career has been spent on the wings or in a wider role behind the striker.

He has been a key figure in the Romania set up, representing the senior side on 64 occasions while scoring 22 goals - a much stronger goals to game ratio.

We are likely to see over the next week or so where the forward ends up, but until then all we can do is speculate.