- Arsenal have Marcus Thuram as Joshua Zirkzee’s back up plan
- Ferdi Kadioglu has agreed to join Arsenal this summer
- Arsenal eye swoop to sign Amadou Onana this summer
- Arsenal lead race to sign Bologna star Joshua Zirkzee
- Arsenal ready to sell trio to fund Bruno Guimaraes deal
- Arsenal target Xavi Simons can only leave PSG for a hefty fee
- Youssouf Fofana speaks out on future amid Arsenal interest
- Arsenal in battle to sign £55m Marc Guehi this summer
- Arsenal to reignite interest in signing Dusan Vlahovic
- Liverpool join Arsenal in race for ambitious Nico Williams
Arsenal In Pole Position To Sign €41.4m-Rated Playmaker
The Express are reporting today that Arsenal are in pole position to sign €41.4m-rated midfielder Julian Draxler this summer with Arsene Wenger supposedly ready to renew his interest in the Schalke youngster.
I’m sure many of you Arsenal fans will remember the name Draxler as we’ve been strongly linked with the 21-year-old in the past.
We were widely reported to have been in talks with Schalke to sign the youngster back in the 2014 January transfer window but refused to meet their €45m asking price.
The speculation resurfaced last summer before Draxler decided to commit his future to Schalke after signing a new long-term contract.
However, the Express claim that we’re now ready to renew our interest once again with the German international supposedly ready to push for a move after a disappointing campaign in the Bundesliga.
The newspaper suggests that Manchester United and Chelsea are also showing a keen interest but say that Arsenal are in pole position for his signature – although they give no actual reason to come to this conclusion.
Schalke have apparently set the asking price at €41.4m (£30m) in a bid to try and deter potential suitors, but the Express claim that we’re unlikely to match that figure after Draxler missed six months of last season through injury.
It’s difficult to know what to make of this report as we’ve been linked with the player so often in recent transfer windows, you kind of get the feeling it’s all just idle speculation at this point.
I personally don’t think another playmaker is going to be Arsene’s top priority this summer so struggle to see the boss spending circa £30m on Draxler.
We need a keeper, holding midfielder and a striker so the transfer kitty should be spent on addressing those areas before worrying about another attacker.
No doubt they young lad has a bright future ahead of him but unless there’s a high profile departure first, I don’t think we’ll be seeing Draxler come to the Emirates this summer.