Dropped Draxler repeats wish to quit Wolfsburg football club

Berlin (AFP) – Some of Europe’s top clubs will again be monitoring Julian Draxler in January’s transfer window after the Germany forward repeated his wish to quit Wolfsburg after being dropped for the first time.

Juventus, Arsenal and Paris St-Germain have all previously been linked to the precocious attacking midfielder, who has made 27 appearances and scored three goals for Germany.

The 23-year-old, who cost Wolfsburg 35 million euros ($37.3m) from Schalke in August 2015, was dropped for the first time for Saturday’s 3-2 home defeat against Hertha Berlin after a series of lacklustre performances.

Wolfsburg’s coach Valerien Ismael, who replaced the sacked Dieter Hecking in October and has won just one of his six games in charge, took the decision to drop Draxler.

When he came on for the last 12 minutes, Draxler was booed and whistled by Wolfsburg fans every time he received the ball at the Volkswagen Arena and the defeat left his club just above the relegation places.

“You can only imagine what these whistles do to a person,” said Draxler.

“It’s out of the question that someone wouldn’t have problems to perform after that.

“The fans have the right to do it, but it’s certainly not conducive.

“I already made my feelings clear in the summer and I stand by that.”

In August, Draxler went public about his desire to leave Wolfsburg after the club’s director of sport Klaus Allofs said he was going nowhere.

“I expressed myself clearly after the European championships to (then) coach Dieter Hecking that I want to leave VfL Wolfsburg,” Draxler told German daily Bild at the time.

The World Cup winner was signed to great fanfare after Wolfsburg sold Belgium playmaker Kevin de Bruyne to Manchester City, but Draxler has shone on only rare occasions for Wolfsburg.

With no goals to his credit in any competition this season, Draxler has so far failed to gel with Germany striker Mario Gomez, who Wolfsburg signed from Fiorentina before the start of the season. 

Allofs said last month that Wolfsburg would be open to selling Draxler if they receive offers during January’s winter break.