Last summer, The Gunners were heavily linked to a very exciting young German player. At the time, Schalke’s Julian Draxler was taking the world by storm, scoring plenty of goals and impressing with his expansive attacking nature.
Unfortunately, the youngster’s form has waxed and waned since. It’s beginning to look like it was a good thing that Arsene Wenger didn’t snap him up last summer. Instead, The Gunners ended up with Mesut Ozil, who has helped to establish the North London side as a major force again.
Ozil’s signing generated a significant amount of belief. I think it’s fair to say that he’s a major reason why The Gunners were able to claim their first piece of silverware in 9 years.
Julian Draxler was unlikely to have the same impact.
Last season he only managed to score 2 goals in 26 Bundesliga appearances for Schalke. Back in 2012/13, he found the back of the net a total of 13 times. He doesn’t seem to be developing in an clearly evident way.
Yes, he was a part of Germany’s World Cup winning side this summer, but he barely featured.
It may seem a little harsh to single out one Arsenal target for his failures over the last 12 months. But when you consider Draxler’s huge price-tag (he’s got a £37m release clause written into his current Schalke deal) and the level of Arsenal’s interest, I’d argue that his decline is worth pointing out.
Even Draxler seems to recognise that this hasn’t been the best 12 months of his burgeoning career. Check out these quotes, straight from the horse’s mouth:
‘It (the clause) stayed with me. I did not play like 20 clubs were ready to pay this sum for me last season. I have to become attractive to big clubs again. Now I know what it’s meant to be the bogeyman. After the derby loss to Dortmund, it felt like I was the only one who was blamed for it.’
If he feels under pressure now, I’m not sure that he’d have coped at a big club like Arsenal. I can’t help but feel that The Gunners have dodged a £37m bullet here. Let’s hope that Arsene Wenger continues to make the right decisions this summer.
What’s your take? What does Julian Draxler’s future hold?
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