Draxler: I Turned Down Premier League Move In Summer

Although the summer transfer window is officially closed that doesn’t stop clubs working hard behind the scenes to prepare for future signings, so we’ll keep you up-to-date with all the latest gossip. Today, Julian Draxler claims he turned down a move to the Premier League.

Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United target Julian Draxler has claimed he turned down a move to the Premier League in the summer in order to continue his development at Schalke, according to the BBC.

The German starlet has become one of the most sought-after youngsters in Europe since breaking into the Schalke team aged just 17, and he’s gone on to score 25 goals in 121 appearances as well as force his way into the German national team set up.

The 20-year-old has attracted interest from a whole host of clubs throughout Europe with Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United among those understood to be interested. Now the youngster has revealed that he turned down a move to the Premier League in order to play week-in week-out at Schalke, which he believes will help him feature at next summers World Cup.

“There were offers from England, but I stayed because I was certain to play in World Cup year,” he told BBC Sport.

“However, you never know what will happen in the future.”

Last week Draxler was quoted as saying that Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United are among the clubs he’d be interested in joining when he does eventually leave Schalke. When asked about his ‘ideal’ next club, he told Sky Sports:

“The big two in Spain, Real and Barcelona, Bayern (Munich) and a few others from England, namely Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea.

“I owe Schalke a lot, I have always been at Schalke. I need to emphasise this. But I’m not so rooted here that I could not tear myself away.

“I can honestly say that it is my dream to play for one of the big clubs at some point.”

When speaking to the BBC this week ahead of Chelsea’s clash with Schalke, he was once again quizzed about which Premier League club he would like to join, to which he replied:

“I have my favourite team, but I am at Schalke and I don’t want to talk about other clubs.

“If I state it’s Arsenal or Manchester United then maybe I’ll be reading it in the newspapers tomorrow.”

The German international only recently signed a new five-year contract and clearly has his head screwed on, as he knows a move to a foreign country now may harm his chances of securing a place at the World Cup, so the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea and Man Utd look like they will have to wait if they want to lure him to England.

The BBC claim he has a £38m buy-out clause in his contract so even when he does decide to move, any interested party will have to dig deep.

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