Schalke general manager Horst Heldt has confirmed that Arsenal lodged formal bids for Julian Draxler on more than one occasion, including in January.
Revealing that bids from the Gunners have been big, just not big enough, the Bundesliga outfit made clear that they were the ones who prevented the 20-year-old German international making the move to the Emirates.
“There was an official enquiry from Arsenal in winter but we decided not to release him,” Heldt told SPORT1.
“It was not the first time Arsenal had made a bid. It was a lot of money, but it wasn’t enough for us.”
Asked if there was any truth in reports of an offer from Bayern Munich, Heldt replied: “No, definitely not.”
Draxler is understood to have a £37 million buyout clause which kicks in again at the end of the season and the Gunners will likely reignite their interest in a player tipped to shine at the World Cup.
But, but the papers told me that Arsene didn’t even bid because he is cheap!
Are you telling that I have been LIED to???
Welcome to the internet.
welcome to world of media more llike
Err…he was being sarcastic.He knows internet.
welcome to the world of sarcasm
Hehe sneaky Wenger! Really hope we land Draxler in the summer transfer window.
-Is Draxler one of the brightest young players Arsene?
-Yes, absolutely.
-Are you looking to sign him?
-I don’t know Draxler.
@Arsenal4Life
I laughed more than I should have at your comment.
You can never have too much laughter, only too little. Cheers
@ Arsenal4life Unless you’re watching an old lady fall down a metal staircase. Then you can definitely have too much laughter.
Little old lady tumbles down three flights of metal fire escape stairs. Climbs to her feet, Looks over the railing and sees seven more flights. Shrugs, and starts tumbling down the next flight.
no wonder Ferguson never invited Wenger for poker
That’s awesome!
I read your comment in arsene’s french accent
On a completely unrelated note, I love your name
It’s a good name, Aziz yours.
….coat…
Epic!
I really hope we get him too. £37m is a lot of money but we’ll make it back in wages. Apparently Julian Draxler has no interest in Money, all he wants is free board and all the footballs he can eat.
See the ball. Eat the ball. BE THE BALL.
You’re not being the ball, Danny.
Unfortunately 37m, even if we were going to pay it, won’t be enough in the summer when Real, Citeh Utd etc offer Schalke 40m
If his release clause is 37m then 37m is enough.
then, if football manager has taught me anything, it will be down to the player’s decision as to which club he wants to move to. The endless riches of Chel$ki etc could play a part in this, but I’d tip Wenger and the germans to convince him
In the summer, he will be ours….mwahahah!
Draxler. That name alone might sell a lot of jerseys.
My next shirt!
If we sign him, I’m getting a Dröxlade-Chamberdolski just to cover all my bases.
Yay, £37000000.02 bid soon, no derisory penny over bids for us!
37 million pounds + 1 rupiah. Works too
With a buyout clause of 37m and his reputation they’re not going to sell him for anything less are they!
I hope one if the mega sugar daddy clubs doesn’t through 37m of lose change on the table and snap him up!
I’d love to see him alongside Alexandre Pato! 🙂
Apparently he was available during January but even Arsene didn’t think he was worth a punt. Oh how low his stocks have fallen. He was absolutely sensational a couple years ago. Shame
‘Shame’ about Pato, that he didn’t live up to his potential. Not because we didn’t try to sign him in January. To clear it up 🙂
What, you want to see him in Milan? You traitor!
7 months late…
Isn’t Pato a character in Pocoyo? We’ll tell him to pull his socks up
Have a feeling this is going to be like the Podolski deal. As in we have an agreement in place and might announce in as soon as the season ends. If things go pear shaped for us and we drop out of contention for the league and FA Cup, then I think we’ll announce it before the season ends like Poldi’s deal was.
Also I don’t know what I’m talking about. All this is just a gut feel. Hope we get him tho.
I really…really hope you are right. We can hope, no?
I had a gut feeling. Turned out to be shit.
Knowing us, I wouldn’t be surprised if it gets announced just before season ticket renewals come up.
i want AW to use third party agents while lodging formal bids and this is the way how other big clubs do it just to protect their names and relationship with their fans in case of a possible failure in the bid.Many clubs were refusing our offer but looked interested in getting our bid so that they can use it for media consumption during or after the transfer window is closed so that big spender clubs offer them more money by talking openly to the media that arsenal already lodged a bid but we want more money.i saw this happening… Read more »
I thought we wouldn’t have to do much business in the summer, but when you think about it with Sagna, Vermalen, Fabianski, Bendtner all probably leaving and Arteta not getting younger, and I personally wouldn’t mind Poldi leaving if we bring in Draxler. Poldi is a great player and I think he is at a stage of career where he should play every week. Plus he doesn’t really fit in our system, maybe on the left but he doesn’t have the pace or technique. As I said he would be absolutely lethal as a second striker with Giroud, but we… Read more »
He seemed to fit in OK yesterday.
Technique? Seriously?
Lets hope he’s thw first summer signing with more to come seeing as our defence will be decimated when the verminator and Bacary leave.
What is the intetion of telling that story at ths time?
“£36,999,999.98 – Final Offer.”
Oh Dick Law, you sly dog, you!
and a case of Gatorade.
Gotta make these new commercial relationships work for us you know.
And a watch as well!
And a Chinese cell phone that will hack your bank accounts wait what?!
great! replace ozil .. hope arsene will admit his failings in that regard .. maybe jose was onto something other then the fa cup.
I hope that you admit your failings in watching football. Without Özils involvement we would’ve scored exactly 0 goals yesterday.
Yep, he was rubbish against Liverpool a week ago, but he’s been excellent since. Let’s hope his form keeps getting better.
What if clubs like PSG, Monaco, Chelsea, City or Bayern sneak in and swoop him up if he shines during the world cup? It could be another Juan Mata situation. No, im not blaming anyone but this is a risk we might regret.
I appreciate the effort to bid and bring in Suarez, Higuain and Draxler but Wenger is right…this market is inflated and crazy. How can someone like Caroll be worth 35m is beyond me.
I think Carroll was an isolated case of superior idiocy from Liverpool, and wasn’t really representative of the market. Still, what is representative is that players like Fellaini are going for 27 million -and that’s a signing by his own ex-manager- and that 20-year-olds like Draxler now cost FOUR TIMES an Henry. Times, they be crazy.
The buy out price doesn’t change, only the deal that the club can offer the player.
If Monaco or Anzi offers him more money then we’ll see how interested he is in playing at the top level (or if he’s just interested in making money. I get the impression he’s not keen on Bayern. Whilst PSG, Citeh and Chavski may have to be careful in the summer because of FFP, so they may have to sell before they can make ‘bigger’ buys.
I think Anzhi fell back into irrelevance awhile ago.
Can we buy before the World Cup? We were allegedly in for Suarez then fucked about until afterwards when he became infamous for the handball and his value rocketed…..
His handball value rocketed after that incident. His football value rocketed after 47 goals in one sason with Ajax. But I agree we should try to do our business before the World Cup
If Schalke don’t have to sell him before the World Cup then they won’t. A poor World Cup won’t hurt his value much, as most clubs realise that tournament football is unpredictable, but a good Wolrd Cup will put 15 million on his value because most clubs rather easily forget that tournament football can be unpredictable.
he has a release clause, so even with a stellar world cup where he is top scorer and single handedly demolishes brazil, we still will ‘only’ have to pay 37 m.
the release clause also means that other than completing paperwork on time, the selling club don’t really have that much of a say in the timing of it.
assuming the club have done their homework on the release clause properly this time and there is no repeat of the “what are they smoking” FUBAR, i would expect arsene to wait until after the world cup just in case he suffers a really serious injury that rules him out for a season.
I remember how excited I was in 2006 when we signed Rosicky and he rocketed one in the World Cup opener. Whadda playa!
Probably get him after the world cup. With our German contingent tapping him up like all the Barca players did with Cesc!
does no one think that’s too much?
Aye it’s too much but clubs will pay it unfortunately it a sign of the times these days.
Do we really need another winger/cam?
Do we really want to wait and mould him into a striker which will likely take years halting growth of gnabry and chamberlain
look at it this way. ox is a central midfielder. podolski and walcott play on the wings because of team formation, but both are naturally strikers who are gonna come in. wenger says, even gnabry is gonna end up as central attacking midefielder. so, seeing ahead, we have no genuine wingers in the team and even counting gnabry and ox, only two. even this season a lack of genuine wingers has clearly hurt the team and is perhaps one of the main reasons why our performances against big teams have been less than satisfactory. so, a genuine winger is perhaps… Read more »
Draxler’s dribble completion stats are equal to Messi! No it’s not too much.
I’d rather we got Diego Costa or Jackson Martinez than Draxler -another attacking midfielder. Arsenal already has enough of that, namely Ozil, Cazorla, Rosicky,Ox, Podolski, Walcott,Ramsey, Wilshere,Arteta.
Rosicky, love him as I do, can’t go on forever. Same with Arteta. This lad is pure World Class in the making. We should get him at all costs. And preferably before the World Cup puts his price up.
“And preferably before the World Cup puts his price up.”
do you understand how a release clause works ?
It’s possible to buy 2 players in the summer (now we can finally afford it).
should have said
It’s possible to buy 2 players OR MORE in the….etc
I hate thinking like this but I really wouldn’t build your ups on Arsenal signing him. We’ve been here many times before (Higuan) and been let down many times before too!
If we’re ready to meet the release clause value then it’s a different situation to higuan.
If we aren’t then you could well be right.
Higuan wasn’t worth the price Napoli paid for him but draxler has the potential to be worth his clause price….
However don’t judge our purchase ability on the last 10 years when we didn’t have any money. We’ve only had one summer with ‘proper’ money so you have to look at the late 90 when we made quite a few expensive buys.
Higuaín has 12 goals and 7 assists in the first 2/3 of a season at a new club and new league. I would say he’s proving that he’s worth the money.
Giroud has the same stats and cost a good £15m less, so I wouldn’t agree that he has.
If we win the League, I wonder how many of our players will leave. Not many players leave a team that’s winning. Pity about Fabianki, he was outstanding yesterday. Still think a clinical striker is more Important than Draxsler but as yesterday proved to us, Arsene Knows.
He is definitely worth it..£37m for Draxler, £40m for Costa( or £25m for Lukaku coz I hear Chelsea wanna go for Cavani or falcao).£10m for Micah Richards, £10m for a CB(plus another on loan)’ around £8m for another DM incase of suspension or injury and around £3m for a decent back up GK…that’s a total of between £93m and £108m and we would have a complete team with real depth to compete on all fronts next season..it doesn’t help that sagna,fabianski n bentner r all leaving for free, but we might get around £17m for the skipper..That would be the… Read more »
I don’t think it’s possible to pull that off on FM, much less in real life.
That’s no FM mate..this is real life…so you think we don’t need replacements for the players who are leaving?I.e..vermaelan, sagna, fabianski, bentner…of of who, except TV are leaving for free…we have more players to buy than u think…we need to replace them as well as add quality on top of that, which is why I’m say in draxler would be adding quality and either Costa or lukaku as well bcoz we already need another top striker…think b4 u try to died me fool
Try to diss me….the rest I mentioned are all players in positions we will need. our squad will be paper thin if we don’t…
Some people prove themselves wrong before we can even get a chance to comment.
Congrats!!! you just described a recipe for making spuds 2014-15
Studmuffin – have you heard of our youth team? Do you not know Arsene Wenger? Did you just wake up & follow Arsenal?
Pretty confident we will get him though, with the help of our german agents, they probably already convinced him. Add a world class striker, a replacement for Vermaelen plus another CB and a DM. And if Sagna leaves we must buy a decent replacement as well. This summer has potential to be huge for is in the transfer market
Our first signing of the coming season should be David Dein
Wonder if people will stop blaming Wenger on not getting Draxler. Both Draxler himself and the Schalke boss says it was them that blocked the move, not us.
Glad to hear we bid, but I’m worried this just means Chelsea or City will outbid us in the summer
Draxler by the numbers http://cdn-media.hollywood.com/images/638×425/1778314.png
So, he is set to shine for Germany at the World Cup, his price doubles and yet again we lose out!!
this Draxler kid is now wanted by Real Madrid i seriously doubt if Arsenal will sign him in summer
Draxler in, Giroud out. Quadruple 14/15.
pfffff no comment …. hooo oups
Would anyone seriously argue with Giroud out though? 1. 7 days in a week and he chooses the night prior to matchday to stay up late sticking it into his lucrative mistress. 2. Refused to own up until photos provided as irrefutable proof. Then became very apologetic. 3. I’m sure that’s his one and only time, right? Surely he hasn’t done that before. Surely not to the Arsenal, breaking curfew and et cetera. 4. Prior to coming on for Sanogo at the touchline he kept gyrating his hips and massaging his balls so overtly no straight guy can pretend not… Read more »
Jokes aside, I believe he should be fired and replaced. He broke curfew on the eve of one of the biggest matches of the season, and he looked like he had just woken up the way he played.
Hate to agree because i really like Giroud, but it is totally unacceptable to break curfew on the eve of a massive game. couldnt care less what he does with his cock. AS LONG AS it doesnt interfere with football. which it clearly did…hopefully Wenger punished him fittingly and it wont happen again…hopefully
Not sure, but doesn’t a release clause mean that the price is fixed? Schalke may prefer to opt for a higher fee, but the player will decide which chlub to join once the requisite sum is met. If correct, then I am not sure if it gives Arsenal an advantage, but it won’t put us at a distinct disavadvantage. Let’s hope Draxler is not overly concerned about earning mega money that the oil-clubs are likely to offer, and that Dick Law and co have carefully nurtured a good understanding and sympathy wiith Arsenal.
Almost. It means that if they get an offer at that value then the player can decide if he wants the move.
Eh Invincible04, homeboy. Don show no disprespec for my man or I’ll pop a cap in your ass. Uh, me and my homboys trying to get it, Hit the house lick tell me is you with it. Draxler invasion was persuasive. From nine to five I know it’s vacant. Probably ave wondered, ow can i attract da wicked bitches dig dat awesome omeboy? da secret is to learn to bang dig im? Respec. Hold on a minute, Tarquin and Peregrine are asking what type of goats cheese i want from Waitrose. Just use the Range Rover to check on the… Read more »
wait.. what
that was incoherently funny enough to not be thumbed down. What is this homeboy on. lmfao?!?!?
I doubt they would want to sell to their rival Bayern Munich if they can avoid it. He seems like an exceptional talent, so hope we get him. Max Meyer is also looking an excellent talent, and may be a good second choice if the Draxler deal falls through. Im a bit dissapointed we did not fight Cardiff for Mats Moller Daehli signature. He went to Cardiff for small change like a couple of million, and he is looking a world class talent. In his first started game for Cardiff in the Cup he was easily the best player on… Read more »
AW looks at draxler in the say way he looked at king henry. Henry was a wide player n he became our best ever goal scorer. In AW i trust.
I would take this with a pinch of salt. We probably did sound them out but what is ‘big’? the Germans are also playing a game to keep Draxler’s price high for the summer and they are riding on our purported interest. To me, the price he was reported to be going for even at the low 25m range is not worth it. City bought the better proven Jovetic (over a longer period of time) for that price. Draxler is a player with immense potential but clearly hyped up beyond his years at the moment. For 15m, we could likely… Read more »
I don’t see the logic of signing Draxler for 40 million
I would rather see us spend that money on Balotelli(Sanogo, Girooud and Ballotelii strikeforce would strike fear into teams) and other players to improve the squad
We arw likely to be in the position of having to fill several positions. We can’t afford to go backwards and enter yet another transitionary period. Arsene needs to identify real quality to fill key positions. It’s a dauntring task at the best of times and made more difficult by our recent hidtory – 8 years of frugality (taken as a whole period) and the repeated promise of jam tomorrow with a huge amount in reserves. Fans feel like Tantulus, the goal is always just out of reach. That is why there is frustration, and that is why it bubbles… Read more »