Former Norwegian footballer and now Bundesliga expert Jan Aage Fjortoft believes that Julian Draxler did not move to Arsenal during the January transfer window because Bayer Munich told Schalke that they have plans on signing the youngster during the summer.
To all Arsenal fans intently watching the negotiations it appeared as if the Gunners were not willing to match the £37 million that Schalke were asking for the 20-year-old and that was the break down in the deal between the two clubs.
While the talk of interest from Bayern Munich is all just speculation on the part of former Blackburn player Fjortoft, Schalke director of sport Horst Heldt has gone on record as saying that the club had received a decent bid on Draxler from a club north of them which would rule out Arsenal as Gelsenkirchen is virtually the same latitude as London.
This leads us to speculation that it must have either been from Bundesliga rivals Wolfsburg who had just sold Diego to Atletico Madrid or from a big club in Russia.
“It had the dimension of a transfer that you don’t do any day of the week,” said Heldt.
“It was certainly a decent offer, but it wasn’t sufficient for us. We told Julian our opinion, and that was that.”
Draxler spoke to the press for the first time since the transfer window closed and said he was aware of the interest from Arsenal and other clubs but is happy to stay with Schalke.
He said: “The fact is Horst Heldt had offers for me this winter.
“I’m happy about that. On the other hand, it shows the respect I enjoy at this club, even if Heldt refuses without me being asked.
“I wasn’t too aware of everything that was going on in the media because I was concentrating on getting back to fitness.
“Of course I wasn’t completely unaware of everything that was being said but I know the truth of the story so I didn’t let it drive me crazy.”
