Would Julian Draxler be a good addition at Tottenham?
Tottenham’s first choice attacking midfielder this summer was Giovani Lo Celso. Real Betis have proven to be stern negotiators and thus pushed Tottenham to look for other options.
Former Borussia Dortmund star and current Paris Saint-Germain player Julian Draxler is one of the names being bandied about in relation to Tottenham this summer. Draxler is a German international and a fantastic player but is rightfully so the least appealing of Tottenham’s options in the attacking midfield area.
When he played at Borussia Dortmund Draxler was one of the most in demand young attacking talents in all of Europe. There were rumors that he was going to follow Jurgen Klopp to Liverpool at the time and everyone on both sides seemed incredibly keen on the deal. Then PSG surged at the last moment and stole the player out from under the noses of Liverpool and infuriated everyone associated with the North-Western club.
It was not so much the fact that they were beaten as why that bothered LIverpool so much. For the Reds he would have been an important player and a critical member of the team helping build the identity of Klopp’s current Liverpool.
It was that Draxler chose Paris in the less important league and a smaller role that bothered everyone. He chose the money and the comfort over the fact that he would have been tested. It was the character of it that bothered everyone.
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That left a very bad taste in the mouths of everyone at Liverpool and Klopp even spoke about it publicly.
It does though finally appear that two years later Draxler wants out. The player has likely grown a lot and the allure and the glamour of the French capital has worn off. His judgement has probably improved in the time since then but that still doesn’t present the main issue.
He was a young man and he made a mistake. He chose the wrong side and was seduced by the money and the promise of the project. It has happened before and it will happen again.
That is not the problem.
The issue is that following two years as a bit part player in a non-competitive division that his skills have likely been bluntened. Tottenham will have to pay a huge fee to get the player out of France, and it might not be entirely worth it to spend that much money while still needing a full season to get a player up to Premier League speed. Especially with the plethora of other options on the market.
The last thing that makes Draxler not necessarilly a great option for Tottenham is that they have players who play in his position already. Tottenham don’t usually play with traditional wingers and so with Draxler there would be no clear cut position for him to play at his best. Of course he could play in behind the strikers but that’s not his best position and he certainly isn’t better than Dele Alli or Lucas Moura there anyway.
The Draxler move makes little sense for Tottenham. It is not that he isn’t a good player and it is good to see that his ambitions have moved beyond the bench in Paris. The truth is that Tottenham simply have no need for the player and spending the amount of money that it would cost to get him out of Paris makes little sense.