Emirates Stadium side close in on deal to sign German international.
Arsenal are looking increasingly likely to win the race to sign Schalke youngster Julian Draxler, with the North London club hoping to unveil the German international on Monday.
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CaughtOffside understands that Schalke see the departure of their 20 year old prized asset as inevitable and have planned accordingly.
The Bundesliga side brought in Sidney Sam from Bayer Leverkusen earlier this month and are to approach Tottenham in an effort to re-sign midfielder Lewis Holtby, a move that White Hart Lane boss Tim Sherwood is said to be open to considering.
Arsenal will trigger Julian Draxler’s €45m (£37.4m) release clause as Arsene Wenger puts to use the transfer budget injection handed to him by the Emirates Stadium side’s board.
Wenger will look to bring in Draxler to help boost his side’s push for a Premier League title though the young midfielder is cup tied from any involvement in the Champions League.
A move for Draxler adheres to Arsenal’s youthful transfer policy whilst simultaneously acting as a statement of intent from a club that smashed their transfer fee record to sign Mesut Ozil last summer and is keen to further invest in their playing staff this month.
Schalke are keen to avoid losing Draxler to a domestic rival, with both Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund known to have had an interest in the player in the past, and as such are keen to see Arsenal cough up the cash necessary to trigger his release clause.
There had been a concern that Draxler’s current ankle injury could scupper a January sale but these have been allayed with reports that the attacking midfielder is set to return to training this week though Arsenal will look to complete a sale before Schalke’s return to Bundesliga action following the winter break, with their next fixture coming away at Hamburg next weekend.
Though a move for Draxler will prove pricey Arsenal are confident that such a move represents good value given the Schalke star’s potential and there may be a fear that interest from other prospective suitors would only grow with the World Cup finals on the horizon.
Draxler has already amassed 133 appearances for Schalke and has ten German caps to his name and a move to Arsenal will see him team up with national team colleagues Per Mertesacker, Mesut Ozil and Lukas Podolski.