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Arsenal’s midfield may add another German national if VfL Wolfsburg decides to let Julian Draxler leave the club during the upcoming months. Draxler was interested in moving to a new club last summer during the Euros—having drawn interest from Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain—but ESPN FC reports that he “was ordered to remain at the club by sporting executive Klaus Allofs.” Draxler has only recently received additional attention as a potential transfer.
Draxler has spoken about how he wishes to focus more on club football with Wolfsburg. The attacking midfielder has only played in nine of Wolfsburg’s eleven matches thus far and has not scored or assisted on any goals. Wolfsburg, who finished second in the league last year, have only recorded nine points during this Bundesliga campaign and are currently fourteenth in the table. The number of points Wolfsburg has dropped indicate that players like Draxler could be on the move during the winter transfer window. Allofs has spoken out about a potential move for Draxler, stating,
"We'd evaluate it differently now and maybe give our approval the next time,"
and
"The story did not help him, and it did not help VfL."
There have been rumblings regarding Arsenal’s interest in Draxler for several months. His current contract includes a €75 million buyout clause that can be triggered in summer 2017. This fee to bring Draxler from Volkswagen Arena to the Emirates would likely be significantly more than the deal that brought Mesut Özil to Arsenal from Madrid. However, Arsenal may be truly interested in acquiring Draxler if he can regain the form he had while at Schalke 04. During a five year stint at the club, he scored eighteen goals in 118 appearances. In 2014, the then twenty-one year old was named by The Observer as one of ten most promising young footballers to watch in Europe.
It is hard to argue that Draxler is worth a €75 million fee at this point in his professional football career. He has a ton of talent, as he demonstrated during his time at Schalke, but his play has become a bit inconsistent over the past year. If the quality of his play improves over the coming months, he will definitely merit further consideration during the winter transfer window and the summer months.