30 Dec 2016

Contact Made: Klopp held secret transfer talks with 'excellent' £40m attacker. Liverpool's top target

Julian Draxler recently agreed a massive £40m transfer to Paris St. Germain, and reports this week claim that Jurgen Klopp was desperate to sign the German international.

According to The Mirror, Draxler was Klopp's 'number one target' for January, but the midfielder rejected a move to Anfield:

"Klopp was hoping that Draxler would [sign] after talks with the German international, but was left bitterly disappointed after he was tempted by PSG's big money offer".

If Klopp held personal talks with Draxler then he obviously wanted him badly, but alas, Klopp's fabled 'pull' in the transfer market wasn't enough to convince the midfielder to reject an inferior league and sign for Liverpool.

In my view, it's no great loss. The idea of Draxler (tall, powerful German international) is more appealing than the reality, and his overall creative return is simply not good enough. Granted, Draxler is only 23, but a goal every 370 minutes in the Bundesliga is average, and is not an upgrade on Liverpool's current attackers. As Michael Ballack noted recently:

"Julian Draxler is an excellent player, but he also needs three or four meters of space to do his dribbling".

To be fair, I doubt that money is Draxler's motivation. After leaving Schalke for Wolfsburg, he told reporters:

"I felt the expectations loaded on me to single-handedly decide games. That's when I realised that it's time to move on. I became convinced that I would not have been able to withstand the pressure and the expectations."

Draxler could've signed for Bayern Munich in the summer, but he seems like the type of player who doesn't want the pressure that comes with playing for one of the world's elite teams.

English football is probably too intense for Draxler, which is probably why he chose to go to Ligue One, which is significantly less physical and fast than the Premier League. Plus, PSG - whilst a big team - are (arguably) not on the level of Bayern, Real, Barcelona, or even Liverpool (in terms of pressure and expectation). Bullet dodged, or big loss?


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