:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/26804307/120764550.0.jpg)
Remember Jan Aage Fjortoft? He's the Norweigan journalist who knows what's happening in German football -- he was instrumental in breaking last Labor Day's happy news that Mesut Özil was coming to Arsenal. Now, he's revealing the possibility that Julian Draxler might be headed to Arsenal thanks to another rumored move. Like with Özil, it involves the generosity of Tottenham Hotspur selling a player to a Champions League team, who then need to sell a player to help offset the buy. Here's how the dots might be connecting:
1. New Spurs manager and Arsenal double-agent Tim Sherwood, looking at the pu-pu platter that Daniel Levy and Andres Villas-Boas left him, decides that Lewis Holtby is surplus to Spurs' needs somehow.
2. Schalke decides, hey, Holtby's totally what we could use in our central attack -- the rumor that Bild (among others) is running with today.
3. This move, plus the arrival of Sidney Sam in the summer, suddenly creates a very crowded midfield, creating speculation that Draxler is indeed expendable.
4. JAF tweets this out:
"Draxler will leave" big in Germany now! Because: - Schalke have bought Sidney Sam and are (apparently) getting Lewis Holtby Replacements?
— Jan Aage Fjortoft (@JanAageFjortoft) January 14, 2014
German paper Bild today: Are Schalke preparing for Draxler's Departure? SportDirector Heldt: -We hope he stays, but we can't influence #AFC
— Jan Aage Fjortoft (@JanAageFjortoft) January 14, 2014
5. Twitter eruption.
6. Inevitable Bleacher Report "story."
Still, though, Fjortoft's already tweeting a caveat about the news, just in case it doesn't pan out.
So I will get a lotof abuse from angry GoonersFans if Draxler doesn't end up at Arsenal? For sharing info? Will keep on doing that anyway
— Jan Aage Fjortoft (@JanAageFjortoft) January 14, 2014
Welcome to silly season, y'all.
