In the interview in which he said he thought Jamie Vardy would stay at Leicester, Arsene Wenger also made mention of Julian Draxler.
Speaking about young players to watch out for at the Euros, he spoke specifically about the German international, saying, “It will be very interesting to follow what Draxler does, from Germany, he is still a very young player.”
The Arsenal manager has long been a keen admirer of the 22 year old, and in January 2014 we were linked very strongly with him. Some stories say we made a bid that was turned down, and in August 2015 Draxler joined Wolfsburg.
Stories emerging today from the German press say that he’s now regretting that move, and wants to leave the Bundesliga side this summer.
Of course this might be a case of putting two and two together and getting five, but having spoken so openly about him, his desire to make a change must surely have the Arsenal manager on alert – especially as we’re actively looking to boost our attacking options.
He’s had a disappointing spell in his career, but Wenger has a bit of history in taking a player who is not doing as much as expected and then turning things around.
The Gunners also have interest in Wolfsburg’s Swiss left-back Ricardo Rodriguez, and it looks like there could be something of an exodus there this summer. Would never have happened under Wolfgang Wolf.
Anyway, let’s see what happens, but it wouldn’t be a surprise if we rekindled our interest in Draxler.
Update: It seems reports of him wanting to leave Wolfsburg might well be erroneous. I can’t read German, but this chap says there’s nothing like that in the Kicker piece from which these whispers came from.
This is the article Kicker used, unfortunately not online. Nothing about him wanting to leave pic.twitter.com/d3psOyLXZS
— Tom (@Wolfsburg__UK) June 20, 2016
He’s a good player but not what we need. We need the much fabled “WCS” (world class striker) to complete the jigsaw. After seeing the kind of performance Xhaka put in yesterday I think the team is only one player away from achieving greatness.
If he can replace Walcott, that’s one very nice piece of the puzzle…
Agree about the “WCS” we need: he IS a fable, that is to say, he doesn’t exist. None of the sure-thing strikers that would improve our team are available for a club our size. Not Aubameyang, not Suarez, not Lewandowski, none of them. So if we want to improve as a club we’re going to have to strengthen where we can and take a punt on a striker. Assuming Mhkitaryan has taken himself of our proverbial table a player like Draxler would be pretty good, IMO. As for striker? Balls if I know, but I reckon competition for Giroud is… Read more »
If we made a serious bid for aubamayeng or lewandowski I dont see why either would turn us down as opposed to a team like man city the only issue being finance which Im sure we can compete in cosidering our income. Were a team that claims to challenge for the champions league and with two or three world class additions thats a possibility, just depends if we can take the chance and make a bid on those players and be flexible and smart above pushing it through which tbf we havent necessarily done in the past.
Because whether we can accept it or not, Bayern and Dortmund are bigger teams than Arsenal on the international stage and can match any wages we might offer them
Bayern yes, Dortmund no
And we have the money to bridge the gap to Bayern, we just need the will.
No way those two teams have wage range of 120K to 60K.
Dortmund….well that’s debatable and arsenal can offer better wages as opposed to them…..also they are not as strong in Europe as we think, as Liverpool showed last season
Bayern yes – they along with Real Madrid and Barcelona are a cut above all others. Dortmund however are certainly not a bigger club – equal to us at best in footballing reputation and far smaller financially. Chelski, Manure and Citeh are all bigger clubs than us financially. What people forget and need to realise is the wages they offer – it’s not just the transfer coffers. They have players on over 200k per week which is significantly above us. And don’t say well we should pay that too! It’s the knock-on effect as the rest of the squad either… Read more »
With Stan Kroenkes strategic and advisory services rendered our value has sky rocketed. Sporting success breeds financial success.
Tom Gun, sure like your financial analysis. That has been Wenger ‘ s headache for the past 19 years. Keeping Arsenal financially correct and playing the Arsenal way. A difficult balance, I will say and he has to satisfy fans. Tough job but someone has to do it.
I’m not sure Dortmund are a bigger team on the international stage than Arsenal. Bayern obviously are but I feel like we could at least match if not exceed wages Dortmund could pay a player.
Aubameyang has literally laughed off suggestions of a move to Arsenal in the past. It’s not happening, however much I wish that it might.
Would prefer Draxler to Vardy long term. Think he’s got the speed and technical ability to fit in. True, he’s not a WCS but he can finish well and Henry was a right-footed winger on the left once too!
I heard TGSTEL’s available
I gather he’s expecting to join Real Madrid any day now…
He’s more likely to be a wide forward. We don’t have many options on the wings…
If we went for him that’s what I would think too. Draxler left, Alexis right, and Oli / another addition up top.
I would think it “And” and Striker, not “Or”.
As for Mardy, well, I rather agree with holding fast on increased wage demands from a 29 year old striker with 1 good year on the books in a team purpose built for feeding him goals. Reeks of a few years of meal ticket to me.
Are you kidding? His world class striker metric is off the charts. He ranks 12/9 on the WCS scale
I will steal my own post, sorry for those who have read it. Here is a little list of the top scorers in a few (11) leagues across Europe. I have listed the players with 20 + goals in the league during the 2015/16 season. Note that Leagues such as the Swedish Allsvenskan starts in April and well, if someone had gotten 20 goals already, it would probably be the next Zlatan. Anyway: EPL Kane (25) Vardy (24) Agüero (24) BBVA Bitey Racist (40) Ronaldo (35) Messi (26) Benzema (24) Neymar (24) Griezmann (22) Aritz Adruiz (20) Eredivise Janssen (27)… Read more »
If we got Milik and Draxler we could have MAD playing up front, surely we have to go for that.
Milik is a Fantastic finisher but besides that he is somewhat limited. He’s also so left footed that I’m not sure why exactly he has a right one… I think Vincent janssen has a very bright future ahead of him and that would be my preference.
He’d be a pretty crap footballer if he had to hop everywhere 🙂
I’d like to take a punt on Janssen but bring in Lacazette too.
Janssen is a bit of a gamble but may have a very bright future.
Lacazette has proven his consistency, albeit in less competitive league.
Again, why isn’t Lacazette selected by DD for EURO while our striker who needs improvement is established as their No 1 ?
I genuinely love Giroud. What I said before is based on the assumption that Sanogo and Walcott move on this summer. I think Giroud, Lacazette, Janssen would perform well, and then Welbeck comes back to make things even better.
I just don’t believe we will lure any of the those “world class strikers” that constantly fill the gossip columns each year, but I also don’t think that matters much.
Honestly that sounds like a great forward line… for a team like West Ham.
Morata is not on that list, but has scored a few times in Euros. We could at a push afford him.
We should go all out for Higuain. He’s been world class for a number of years now and to score as many goals as he did against Italian defences last season is pretty special. Hang the expense!
Italian defenses aren’t what they once were. Juve is really the only fantastic defense in Serie A any more.
He is a fantastic player, though.
Poo meter?
Mexican hangover
Montezuma’s revenge.
Delhi belly
I think he’d be a great signing for us, but I’m sure other clubs would out bid us, let’s hope the promise of footballing paradise will be to much for him to turn down.
I’m guessing he might also rather like hanging around with Ozil (been one selfie already), Mert, and Serge, and potentially the left back he’s played in front of. I mean, who wouldn’t?
But could we really get two from Wolfsburg this window? That would be a bit brutal for them.
Perhaps some transfer gamesmanship with a little extra pressure to push one or the other over the line? (If we go in for either that is..)
I’m a Draxler fan so I would be happy if we’d signed him. I’d be interested to know what went on previously, when he went to Wolfsburg, as the transfer fee was much lower than I’d anticipated.
Did we get burned and does that mean we wouldn’t go in for him regardless?
Anyway, I wouldn’t be opposed to him on the left and Alexis on the right of the 3 behind the striker 🙂
Had an injury plagued season which put a lot of teams off
Sounds perfect for us.
Wasn’t there talk of converting him into a centre-forward a la RVP, the last time a Draxler-Arsenal rumour surfaced?
Little bit licking my lips at a prospective midfield/forward line-up of Xhaka, Ramsey; Draxler, Ozil, Alexis; Giroud. Would be tough to beat.
Tasty prospect indeed, even more so if you switch Ramsey for Santi!
and Wilshere, The Coq, Iwobi, The Jeff…..
All the players leaving wolfsburg because lord bendtner left
It’s the truth brother. End of days.
by now you should have figured it out, Wenger talking up players has nothing to do with our transfer business.
How very true.
no pooo metre
I don’t think my heart could take the potential elation and disappointment of any progress in this story 🙁
No, not another injury-prone player linked. If Arsene hasn’t learnt already that you need a fully fit squad to win the league, he would never learn.
I think any professional football manager probably realises that it’s better for players not to be injured.
I’d be surprised at this one, but I’d definitely take him.
He’s agressive and has goals in him as well, technically decent and certainly an upgrade on Walcott.
I have seen wenger early this season talking of how good hazard is. Think draxler is a similar kind of player.
Get on the case Mesut.
He already is: https://www.instagram.com/p/BGmW7DMQs1X/
Drazil?
Özler?
Doesn’t quite have the same ring as Flamzil but it’s a small price to pay.
Draxil?
Sounds like a detergent or something
Looking to clean out the opponents’ trophy cabinets…
Already on my way out…
Like Überweisse from that episode of Friends.
Sounds like the opposite of Prozac. It would explain why Ozil often looks a bit subdued…
As I understand it Wolfsburg are looking to cash in on a few higher earning players/players they can sell for high profit this summer because Volkswagen (who own the club) are struggling for cash flow due to the emissions scandal. These links to Wolfsburg now remind me of our raid on Malaga after their owner had some financial difficulty, when we got Monreal and Santi for below market rates
Yes please! The kid is a superstar.
They are all Lord Bendtner bannermen and to swore loyalty to him, anyway imho another CF is needed and another defender.
Angry at the exile of the 1 true king in the Wolf?
Sorry.
I’m flattered by the reported interest in me from Arsenal. They are a great team in a nice league.
At the moment I am concentrating on playing for the national team, but we’ll see what happens during the summer.
I would like to see him wearing our shirt. .
I also came to know that Colombia captain James Rodriguez is married to Daniela Ospina, sister of David Ospina…
How about that….
why not…just makes us big happy family
This is a player who have shown what he can do in the field of play, he is very young but he has matured to play for the big occasion. If there is a player Wenger should not take time to sign, is Draxler, he is a stead player, who do not panic when with the ball, he can take on defenders, he can play as a central striker, left or right winger, he can shoot from far, he is very creative, he is very technical, with or without the ball, he can score goals and can play as a… Read more »
Was this lad not so full of himself back when we first courted him that he wanted stupid money? The figure escapes me but a vague recollection was something not that far from what we paid for Ozil. At 18!!! So what did that get him? A sideways move playing with TGSTEL and now he wants to come here. Hopefully the experience has given him a more humble and grown up attitude than that of a couple of years ago.
Let’s be honest. Moving to Wolfsburg at a time when the GSTEL was playing there was never going to work as you would always be playing in his shadow
Not forgetting what a nightmare it is getting hold of a taxi after the game.
Plus paying for all his pizza.
Too high profile a player. Too exciting. Can’t see it happening.
Good skillful player, but what if he tries to take over the world from that space station again?
Then we’ll buy Jaws Suárez to stop him.
We’ll just get one of our licences scouts to visit him.
Do we have one called ‘Bond….. James Bond’?
Anybody else have the horrible feeling that we’re going to be going into next season short in a few key areas as usual?
Too grim to even imagine right now so voted down only because I hope it’s not true.
As do I but ‘1 – 2 additions’ and ‘we try but it’s difficult’ doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence
Same here. I hope there’s more of a shift than usual this summer. Another striker, and a good measure of the rest to fill the gaps and improve on what’s there is required.
If we end up with 2 good forwards I’d be reasonably happy. At the moment we only really have HFB and Alexis who are scoring a decent number of goals, and both of them were off it / injured for long periods of last season. The others are at best ‘depth’ or ‘potential’ players (or ‘injured’). Not good enough really is it.
Defense could be better but it’s pretty solid. Midfield is looking quite impressive (:
FYI those aren’t quotes from the last 6 months – at least not from Wenger
Quotes from the last 24 hours:
http://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/arsenal-transfer-news-arsene-wenger-targets-striker-as-he-plans-for-two-more-signings-a3275691.html
95%
Just wondering- why haven’t we been more interested in Lacazette? To me, he seems the ideal signing – very quick and an excellent finisher. His goalscoring record speaks for itself. We would still have to pay quite a bit for him, but the price won’t be obscene.
Not a bad option. There’s an unpredictability to the sort of striker you may make out of him and he has some good requisites to play up top with height and pace but also quick feet. As I mentioned before, we need someone different to the physicality of Giroud or the (eventual) direct pace of Welbeck. IMO squad is crying out for an RVP type player. Can Draxler be moulded by Wenger? The gaffer has a great track record at that sort of stuff. That said, it represents some risk in taking this path and potential hiccups along the way.… Read more »
When Wenger praises a player in the media, it’s a clear signal he’s not interested. Remember what he said about Ben Arfa in the media a few years ago? Everyone went nuts, but no, nothing. Not a bid, no interest, nothing.
He was correct that Ben Arfa is a very talented player, but he didn’t mention he has some ‘personality’ issues. I guess he didn’t think Ben Arfa would fit the team.
All the players Wenger mentions are not on our radar. Remember, we don’t know the players we buy exist. Who is this Cazorla again?