Arsenal: Julian Draxler transfer breakthrough too good to be true

Arsenal’s reentry into the Julian Draxler transfer pool seemed like it would be short-lived, but the newest update seems to good to be true. And it probably is.

Arsenal’s summer-long pursuit of Thomas Lemar seemed to deaden all other prospects. When even Arsene Wenger admits that he’s interested in a player, you know that it’s time to pay attention because it’s getting real.

After all, look back at 2014, when Julian Draxler was first looking to make a move away from Schalke. Rumors had surfaced that Arsenal were so interested that the German attacker had been to London to discuss a move. This supposed visit was compared to a UFO sighting by Wenger. Not exactly encouraging on that front.

But Lemar was promising. So promising that I think everyone was pretty much banking on him making the move, Wenger included. Here we are two weeks from the close of the window and we don’t have anyone to fill the role Lemar would have.

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And then Julian Draxler re-entered the picture. Having just watched Neymar come in in the biggest move since Ronaldo left Manchester United, the German is desperately hoping for a way out, but the links to the Emirates have been relatively mum. Just dull murmurings (most of which have come from me) and nothing more.

That is, until the latest “updated” from the Times, that’s reporting that Draxler is for sale and that the Gunners can land him for – are you ready for this? – £32 million.

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If you’re thinking that’s a bit crazy, it’s probably because Draxler joined PSG just a year ago for a fee of £35.5m and secured a four and a half year deal.

Sounds too good to be true right? Draxler for such a reasonable fee? That’s probably because it almost certainly is too good to be true.

I have been fervently advocating for ditching Alexis if we can secure Draxler, mainly because ditching Alexis would be the only way we could afford Draxler, but at this new fee being reported, I’d say we don’t even need to sell Alexis to acquire him.

The big question would be in what capacity he would be used and how that would appeal to him. It’s no secret that Alexis and Mesut Ozil have a monopoly on the two positions that Draxler would be purchased for. Meaning he would either accept a bit-part role or Alexis is leaving.

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You tell me which one seems more likely.

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