Arsenal
Arsenal Handed Huge Boost In Pursuit Of €45m Attacker
Arsenal have been handed a major boost in their pursuit of a £37m rated German international attacker. Find out what’s happened and who the player is here.
The January transfer window may have slammed shut but clubs will still be working hard behind the scenes at identifying targets for the summer, so we’ll bring you all the latest news, gossip and rumours. Today, Gooner Mac gives us the latest on Arsenal’s pursuit of Julian Draxler.
Arsenal have been handed a huge boost in their pursuit of Julian Draxler after Schalke chairman Clemens Tonnies insisted the attacker will not be joining Bayern Munich, according to the Express.
The 20-year-old was the big story for Arsenal during the January transfer window with widespread reports linking him with a switch to the Emirates. We had daily updates on how the supposed transfer was progressing and at one point the bookmakers even stopped taking bets on him making the move to north London.
In the end a move failed to materialise and there were reports suggesting that Arsenal were set to miss out on Draxler altogether with Bayern Munich ready to meet the players €45m (£37m) release clause at the end of the season. Obviously this would have been a devastating blow to Arsenal with fans keen to see the highly-rated attacker joining their German contingent in the summer.
However, it seems we can breath easy as Schalke chairman Clemens Tonnies has come out to claim that Draxler has no interest in making the move to the Allianz Arena.
“I can rule out, 100 per cent, that Julian Draxler wants to go to Bayern.” Tonnies is quoted as saying by the Express.
Bayern seem to snap up all the young German talent so it would be a huge relief if Draxler had ruled out joining the European champions. The whole ‘saga’ ended in disappointment for us last month but nobody will really know what went on or how serious our interest got.
Schalke sporting director Horst Heldt confirmed recently that a mystery club bid for the player, but claimed the interested party was located to the north of them, which would rule out Arsenal, and Bayern for that matter. He said:
“I can confirm that there was a request.
“It had the dimension of a transfer that you don’t do any day of the week. It was a decent deal, but insufficient for us to accept.
“It came from a club to the north of us.” Heldt is quoted as saying by the Mail
I’m sure the rumour mill will once again link us with Draxler in the run up to the summer, and I personally hope we really push the boat out to land him.
He’s one of the best young talents in world football and while a figure like £37m is a huge sum of money – especially for a player who’s largely unproven at the top level – I think it would turn out to be an excellent investment in the long-run.
With Bayern seemingly out of the running, fingers crossed we can get a deal tied up early in the summer as no doubt interest in Draxler will intensify if/when he impresses at the World Cup.
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