Would Schalke care if Bayern came in and activated the release clause in the summer? Maybe they'll sell to us cheaper than give Bayern a chance to get him.

Grimson wrote:
Jed wrote:

If Draxler joins it's curtains for one of Gnabry or Ox, and I for one don't think it's worth it. Just splash the money on a bloody striker.

So what ? Neither are better than Draxler , please tell me which striker we can get in January because I'm very interested.

Should we waste our money on yet another midfielder then, whose arrival is also highly likely to significantly decrease the playing time of players of a similar age such as Ox and Gnabry who also happen to play in his favored role? Just because we can't sign a striker shouldn't mean we must go for another midfielder when we're already stacked for midfielders. It's not like we're flush with money either and can afford to stockpile on players a la Chavs.

And im 100% sure Wenger would spend that £40m on a top, top striker instead but none are available currently. Seriously - none. Suarez - nope. Rooney - nope. Costa - he said not before the summer, Benzema - nope, not before Madrid buy Suarez (so in the summer), Martinez - obviously Wenger dont rate him as he is available for similar money as Costa - besides, im not familiar with his situation, but being South American, doesnt he have some kind of ridiculous ownerships that could be hard to deal with and may actually stretch the value of the deal way beyond the "release clause" cost? Mandzukic - not before the summer after Lewandowski joins. Dzeko - not for us as we are direct rivals. And that pretty much sums up the striker market currently. Or did i forget some of the "big names"?

If Wenger wants to be safe on ST he can get Morata on loan at best as the option that makes sense the most. No stop-gap £2m-£5m "Berbatov" will come on a permanent deal as they want a 2-3 year contract and we shouldnt be offering them that if we are going for a big striker in the summer.

If we sign him, I doubt it will be for his release clause. Transfer fees are difficult to predict but if Draxler wanted to leave to come here then I don't see Schalke turning down £30m offer.

£40m on a midfielder - at first I put this into the "no chance" category but honestly Podolski/Cazorla could be gone soon.

£40m on a forward - I see it.

Now the question is can Draxler become a forward, and if so how quickly?

Does Wenger trust Giroud for next season as he bloods Draxler? If not, it becomes hard to imagine us spending £40m on a player 2+ years out from making an impact (assuming he doesn't take a wide position).

Assuming we're ready to spend and we need two players per position there's a big opening at LWF.

marv3llous wrote:

And im 100% sure Wenger would spend that £40m on a top, top striker instead but none are available currently. Seriously - none. Suarez - nope. Rooney - nope. Costa - he said not before the summer, Benzema - nope, not before Madrid buy Suarez (so in the summer), Martinez - obviously Wenger dont rate him as he is available for similar money as Costa - besides, im not familiar with his situation, but being South American, doesnt he have some kind of ridiculous ownerships that could be hard to deal with and may actually stretch the value of the deal way beyond the "release clause" cost? Mandzukic - not before the summer after Lewandowski joins. Dzeko - not for us as we are direct rivals. And that pretty much sums up the striker market currently. Or did i forget some of the "big names"?

If Wenger wants to be safe on ST he can get Morata on loan at best as the option that makes sense the most. No stop-gap £2m-£5m "Berbatov" will come on a permanent deal as they want a 2-3 year contract and we shouldnt be offering them that if we are going for a big striker in the summer.

Berbs signed a 2 year deal with Fulham at 31. He'd sign a shorter deal at 33 for Arsenal if we wanted him. You put the 2m on the table for berba and sign him uptill the season end. He gets to be a free agent in the summer and earn more money or you sign him for 18 months till 2015 and get a big striker in the summer. At worse he becomes third choice and a third choice berbatov is better than a lot of third choices we've had recently-chamakh, bentner, park etc.

Draxler + Berba would be a good Jan for us.

The same people caring about us spending so much on Draxler will be the same people moaning about us missing out on him when he becomes world class.

Clarence, agreed.
I think what people sometimes forget is that markets for talent are not linear. In any field, the very best or most promising talent is super expensive because having that talent on board could guarantee you success. Ozil is not going to give you triple the output of a 14m pound AM (e.g., Cazorla), but having that little bit extra he gives you over a Cazorla makes you a serious contender, and you have to pay significantly for that.

I've seen enough of Draxler to be comfortable with a 30m+ bid today. He will probably frustrate at first but with the right stewardship (e.g., Fergie with Ronaldo, or Wenger with Henry) he will flourish

I have no idea whether Draxler would be worth £35m considering the opportunity cost. We might waste a couple of years trying to make him a productive goalscorer.

At least at his age, we could probably recoup half if he didn't work out after that.

How fast is he really? He doesn't look like he has amazing acceleration to me.

Clrnc wrote:

Draxler + Berba would be a good Jan for us.

That would be well above reasonable expectation, here's hoping.

He doesn't look even as fast as, say, Podolski, but he's able to get past defenders with skill. We just don't have that here.

A lot of the Arsenal blogs are making comparisons with Henry because of his mobility, his position out left, his age and his goalscoring potential.

Henry was an amazing athlete when he came to Arsenal, I'm not sure Draxler's anywhere near him.

those people are misinformed.

Less agile. He is a slightly faster less skilled version of rvp in my opinion

We need a striker. And if this bloke can't be converted, and we don't have the cash to buy him AND a top striker either now or in the summer, then we should move on.

Agreed. If it's going to be a case of draxler or a striker this window, then we need to prioritise getting a quality striker and leave draxler for the next window. As exciting a prospectbas he looks, i can't see him coming in now and making a real difference to our season.

Read somewhere he's out injured till March?

Captain wrote:

Two seasons at Arsenal will do it, in my opinion.

You've got me all excited now Cap :egg:

Transfer just went from 0.1% to 0% likely.

According to that Jan Aage Fjortoft bloke he's only out for a week or two.

Nope, he tweeted this:

Draxler been injured. He should be ok when the League starts again in 10 days

what is assessed in medicals anyway? would he fail the medical if we did a transfer today?

Bild are referring to the story in Daily Mail yesterday.

GeoffArsenal‏@GeoffArsenal7m
Draxler. There might be interest in the summer but i'm hearing it won't happen in January.

Well I guess that's that then lads.

So we want him now and the summer, he's injured for 3 months and 10 days. clear as fuckin mud then. cool.

Any article talking about how we want to make Draxler into a striker is chatting shit.

innervisionscm wrote:

Any article is chatting shit.

can't see Bayern letting draxler leave the country without a fight. It is down to whether Draxler wants to come here and we are willing to pay a bit over the odds for a player we will have to give time to adapt to a new position and league.

Draxler to Bayern would be a piss take.