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To confirm what those of us following the Julian Draxler smoketrails all January already suspected, Schalke's Director of Sport, Horst Heldt, has admitted that Arsenal bid for Draxler's services during the latest transfer window.
As relayed by Fox Soccer's website, Heldt specifically told Sport1:
"Arsenal officially enquired about the services of Julian Draxler during the recent transfer window. We did not want him to leave.
Of course, it was big money on offer, but still it was not enough for us.
I am convinced Julian will be playing at Schalke past the end of the season. We are able to offer him enough ambition."
Arseblog chimed in with speculation that Arsenal would likely seek to activate Draxler's reported £37 million release clause in the summer, and according to an ESPN report, Schalke manager Jens Keller told Bild that he can't rely on Draxler being part of the Schalke squad next year.
In line with the tired "Wenger is cheap" narrative, publications like Express and the Mirror are depicting this as Arsenal's fault for not coming up with the money required to secure Draxler, rather than Schalke overvaluing the promising-but-still-young German international.
Draxler is, incidentally, returning to full training following a tendon rupture, and may feature in Schalke's Champions League match against Real Madrid on Feb. 26.
