Julian Draxler has officially joined VfL Wolfsburg, for a transfer fee of £25million pounds from fellow Bundesliga side Schalke 04.
The transfer saga surrounding the creative midfielder is finally over after years of speculation linking him with the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City, Real Madrid, Juventus and now Wolfsburg themselves. But for once in this transfer saga, the interest was real.
Draxler's progress halted by troublesome injuries
It must be noted that his high ability comes at a price for the flamboyant playmaker. Over the past few seasons, Draxler’s progress has been plagued. Most recently a troublesome hamstring injury, which kept on the sidelines for 22 games over a spell of five months.
Draxler arrives at the Volkswagen Arena on a five-year contract deal, whilst Schalke state that the fee takes them financially to "another level."
Julian happy to join Wolfsburg
Upon joining Dieter Hecking's Wolfsburg side, Draxler spoke of his delight of joining his new club. Draxler was, coincidentally a part of the Schalke side who were defeated comfortably by his new suitors 3-0 last Friday.
"Wolfsburg offers me an excellent chance for my future and an extremely strong team," Draxler told the Wolfsburg official website. He continued, saying that he's "looking forward" to playing in the UEFA Champions League, and "winning titles with the club" too.
The club's general manager, Horst Heldt, was understandably upset at the move. "There are two reasons for our decision to accept Wolfsburg's offer." However, he was keen to say that they would not "disclose information about the transfer fee", although they admitted it is the "biggest transfer" that they've received for a player at Schalke.
The Wolves splashed out a staggering €35million + €5-7million in bonuses, thus breaking Wolfsburg’s club-record transfer fee.
With the saga continuing to bubble on, Heldt said "at the end of last season, Julian came to me and expressly said that he wanted to leave the club." Although nothing materalised, he did admit that "we[the club] would consider any offers that came in for him," but he also "tried to convince him" to stay "in light of the new sporting direction that we're now taking."
The 21-year-old talent is set to be a like-for-like replacement for Kevin de Bruyne, who joined Manchester City for a hefty transfer fee believed to be around £54.5million pounds.
Draxler’s 14-year stay at Schalke comes to an end. After joining Schalke's Knappenschmide, he made his debut for Schalke in 2011 aged 17. He made his debut in the Champions League a month later. Last season, his stand-out performance in Schalke's draw at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea saw the World Cup-winner claim many praise from German and English press.