We have all been hoping that Arsene Wenger would use his time working for the football press at Euro 2016 to do some scouting and find some top new talent for Arsenal. The Frenchman may well have been doing just that but if so he must have seen something in the performances of the Wolfsburg forward Julian Draxler that I missed.
The talented young player did not exactly set the world alight for Germany at the tournament but neither was he completely anonymous and it seems clear that the problems suffered by Joachim Low’s team came more as a result of losing their only recognised centre forward Mario Gomez before the semi-final defeat to France.
Our manager is thought to be a long term admirer of the 22-year old and according to The Mirror he might be about to make a club record offer of around £55 million for Draxler, with the idea that he might be able to play as a centre forward for us as well as his more usual roles of wide forward or attacking midfielder.
I do like this fast and dynamic player but I am far from convinced that he could do a good job as a centre forward and the tournament this summer did nothing to change my mind. The report also claims that his current club are facing some financial cutbacks after failing to qualify for the Champions League and their sponsors Volkswagen’s well publicised problems, so you would think that Draxler’s price would be a lot more reasonable.
I would certainly expect the careful Wenger to at least try to broker a cut price deal for the youngster. What do you think of this Arsenal transfer rumour guys?
Bob.