Not this again: Arsenal linked with Julian Draxler

It’s as regular as the seasons, as chartable as the tides. At some point in every transfer window cycle, Julian Draxler is both rumored to be on his way out of Wolfsburg, and also, subsequently, on his way to Arsenal.

This story has been around since 2014, when Arsenal spoke to Draxler while he was still a Schalke player; he subsequently moved to Wolfsburg, of course, and in seemingly every transfer window since, there’s been a DRAXLER TO ARSENAL story.

Hey, guess what? DRAXLER TO ARSENAL 2016 IS HERE, EVERYBODY!

I’m not going to dismiss this one completely - Draxler has apparently, as the story says, played his last game for Wolfsburg after having been left out of the squad that was to face Bayern yesterday - a squad that got hammered 5-0. He appears to have burned his bridges there, and Wolfsburg appear willing to sell him - but as we all know, there’s a lot of real estate between “he’s for sale” and “Arsenal will buy him”.

At this point I’m going with “guardedly optimistic” as a reaction to this. The window opens January 1, but as that’s a Sunday, transfer stuff in earnest probably won’t start until the 2nd (or the 3rd depending on holiday hangovers). So, stay tuned.