The Gunners will likely be in pole position for Draxler’s services, as Bayern have pulled out of the race…
Arsenal’s hopes of a big money summer transfer move for Schalke wonderkid Julian Draxler have been boosted by the news that Bayern Munich are no longer interested in his services, reports the Guardian.
It was rumoured that the Bundesliga giants wanted to poach the 20-year-old this summer, but the club’s chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has confirmed that his team has no intention of bringing the attacker to the Allianz Arena.
“We are not buying any player from [Borussia] Dortmund or Schalke just to hurt these clubs,” he said.
“We are just buying players who can give FC Bayern more quality straight away. I can rule out that we will sign Julian Draxler in the summer.”
The news will encourage Arsenal, who tried and failed to sign Draxler during the closing stages of the January transfer window with a £24.7m bid.
His cub Schalke rejected the proposal, instead insisting that if any club were to acquire Draxler they’d have to meet his mammoth £37m release clause.
According to football journalist Jan Aage Fjortoft though, Arsenal may also have cooled their interest after a scouting report confirmed that it would be very difficult to transform the youngster from an attacking midfielder to a striker.
Re: Draxler Looks like Arsenal have cooled down their interest in player after scouting reports tell them he can’t be made into a striker
— Jan Aage Fjortoft (@JanAageFjortoft) March 23, 2014
Arsene Wenger famously did something similar with both Thierry Henry and Robin van Persie, who both developed into world-class forwards.
The idea that the French manager sees Draxler as a forward though is only a rumour, and it could quite feasibly be that Arsenal want the player to start on the left of midfield, where he currently does for the German giants.
This term, Draxler’s only scored once in the Bundesliga, but has weighed in with six assists. Despite his young age, he’s already won 10 caps for the brilliant German national side, and is expected to travel with the squad for this summer’s World Cup in Brazil.
If he were to arrive at the Emirates this summer, he would likely become Arsenal’s second most expensive ever signing, behind £42m playmaker Mesut Ozil who arrived last summer from Real Madrid.
To read an in depth analysis of how Draxler could fit into Arsenal’s side, click here.
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