Graham Barret returned to London yesterday in the hope that he can secure an early indication from Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger of his place in the club's plans for the coming season.

With transfer deadline day looming (August 31st) the 20-year-old striker insists that he would love to make the breakthrough at the club he moved to from his home in Kilnamanagh, Tallaght, five years ago. But he is under no illusions about the difficulty he faces in first-team football when players like Thierry Henry, Sylvain Wiltord and Dennis Bergkamp are already jostling for places.

During the club's pre-season games Barrett played mainly in midfield and despite believing that his best position is in attack he would be happy to fit into any position if it meant being handed the opportunity to begin establishing himself at the Highbury club.

So far, though, there has been no firm indication from Wenger that he features in his plans for the campaign ahead and if he does not then Barrett, fresh from scoring on his senior international debut in Helsinki on Wednesday, is anxious to secure a move that will improve his chances of playing competitively, possibly on a loan basis, before the deadline.

"I've never had any regrets about joining Arsenal," says the Dubliner, "everybody there has been absolutely brilliant to me and I love it at the club but my career is the most important thing and if there's no chance of getting into the team then I'll have to try to go somewhere where I can play."

Barrett made his Premiership debut two seasons ago when he played two games. But he has twice since left Highbury on loan, enjoying a successful spell at Colchester and one at Bristol Rovers that was severely curtailed after he came down with glandular fever.

The illness, which affected him during the season before last, set him back badly and though he has been back playing for 12 months now it has only been in recent weeks, he believes, that he has fully regained his fitness.

"It's only now that I feel I can do everything that I could before I got sick," he says. "In the last few weeks I've felt really strong again and it's another reason that I think it's important to do something about my situation now."

The young Dubliner, who won a European Championship medal with the Republic's under-17s in Scotland three years ago and has subsequently been capped extensively at youth and under-21 levels, appears to have a number of options if Wenger does decide to let him look around.

Several first division clubs are said to have expressed an interest in recruiting him and when asked if there has been any interest from other top-flight sides he said simply that he isn't in a position to talk about that yet.

Don Givens, who has worked with him both at Arsenal and within the Ireland set up, is adamant that with his attitude and talent he has the potential to make a major impact in the game. But while the under-21 boss understands the player's desire to prove himself at Arsenal he feels that making a break might be the right thing to do.

"I feel his future is away from Arsenal and I think that Graham is probably coming around to that view," says Givens. "It's so hard for a player like him to make the breakthrough at a club like that but he's a super lad who works his backside off for everybody - on the training pitch and in games - and there'd be no end of clubs that would love to have him.

"I was absolutely thrilled for him when he got the goal (against Finland)," he added, "and I'm certain that Arsene and everybody else at Arsenal will have been genuinely delighted for him too because he's a very popular fella. But it's an important time for him and I hope what happened in Helsinki doesn't end up clouding his judgment too much because he needs to be moving himself on to the next stage and realistically that involves playing first-team football on a regular basis."