Julian Draxler has been the latest midfield sensation from Germany who is receiving praises for his matured and confident displays over the course of this season Aged only 19, the youngster took over Schalke’s midfield and filled in the void left by Lewis Holtby who left for Tottenham.
It is inevitable that the midfielder would receive interests and amongst others Arsenal and Real Madrid are the latest names that has been linked with the midfielder. Draxler himself has commented about the interests on him, suggesting that the rumours are true indeed. But the question lies whether Arsenal can outbid Real Madrid and even if they did, do they really need him?
Draxler being an attack minded midfielder would predominantly likes to play at the center of the park just behind the striker where Cazorla and Wilshere are currently playing, so if they bring him in, either Wenger has to change his formation or play Cazorla in a more wider role to fit in Draxler, which will only affect Cazorla’s game as it has been affecting him in the past few games.
From the 27 league appearances he has made this season, Draxler has made 37 key passes has 2 assist to his name, a figure which is good, but certainly not better than what Arsenal currently have in their midfielders. The one key stat that the Gunners would like is his shot accuracy which stands at 76%, but does it really matter or is that enough to buy another attacking midfielder when you need to add steel to stop the leakage of goals.
Cazorla from a more or less the same position has far more superior stats than Draxler. From 34 appearance the Spaniard has racked up an impressive 75 key passes, notching up 12 goals and 7 assists on the way which speak volumes as the fire power from the midfield is already there, all that the Gunners want is a midfield enforcer and a decent striker.
Taking into account the pass accuracy, the Arsenal midfielders still stand on top of Draxler. Cazorla has an impressive 162 successive long balls with an accuracy of 87% while Draxler has 52 long balls and a 82% accuracy. Let alone Cazorla who may have played far too many games to give a fair comparison. Let’s take the case of the ever improving Ramsey. The Welsh who has played a mere 5 games more than Draxler has more or less the same no of key passes, but his accuracy rate is far higher which stands up at 89%.
To cut some slack for Draxler, he is obviously one of the top young talents across Europe and could be a central figure of German national team in the coming years. But Arsenal are currently not in a place to buy another attack minded youngster while they have other important areas to look after. A defensive midfielder and a striker of Jovetic or Cavani’s quality is what they need this summer.
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