Transfer News: Chelsea Ready To Fight Arsenal For £25m-Rated Attacker

Although the transfer window is officially closed that doesn’t stop clubs working hard behind the scenes and preparing for the January transfer window, so we’ll keep you up-to-date with all the latest gossip. Here, Arsenal and Chelsea are linked with Julian Draxler.

Chelsea are ready to go head-to-head with rivals Arsenal for the signature of highly-rated Schalke playmaker Julian Draxler when the transfer window re-opens in January, according to the Daily Star.

Draxler has emeraged as one of German football’s hottest properties after breaking into the Schalke first team in 2011 aged just 18. He has gone on to become a regular in Jens Keller’s starting eleven and scored 10 goals in 30 league appearances last season.

His impressive form saw the 20-year-old strongly linked with Arsenal in the summer and the newspapers quoted him as saying he would be tempted by a move abroad if Schalke were prepared to cash in. The Bundesliga outfit were determined to hang on to their star man though, and he ended up signing a new contract tying him to the club until 2018.

However, that doesn’t seem to have deterred some of the Premier League big guns with the Star claiming that Chelsea are ready to join Arsenal in making enquiries for Draxler this winter.

Despite having a wealth of attacking talent already at his disposal, the report suggests that Blues boss Jose Mourinho is keen to add another attacking midfielder to his ranks and is lining-up an offer for the £25m-rated youngster.

Arsenal’s interest is thought to remain despite the signing of Mesut Ozil from Real Madrid in the summer and it would be interesting to see how Arsene Wenger would fit Draxler into his team alongside his German international team mate if he managed to lure him to the Emirates.

Read more Arsenal transfer news | Chelsea transfer news

Do you rate Draxler? Would you like to see him join your club?