Brendan Rodgers went on a scouting mission on Wednesday night to look at the possibility of making a bid to sign Schalke’s Julian Draxler in the January transfer window, according to a report.
Rodgers flew to Gelsenkirchen to watch Schalke beat Basel and progress to the last 16 of this season’s Champions League.
The Daily Mail suggest he was at the Veltins-Area to watch 20-year-old midfielder Draxler, who Rodgers is keen to bring to Liverpool as a long term replacement for Steven Gerrard.
Neil Ashton wrote on Thursday:
The 20-year-old German international is drawing interest from clubs across Europe and the midfielder, who plays in the No 10 role, is a long-term target at Anfield.
Draxler got Schalke’s first goal of the night on Wednesday in the 2-0 victory over the Swiss side.
Draxler is very highly thought of in Germany, having already won 10 caps for the German national team.
According to Squawka, Draxler has scored once and created 14 chances for Schalke in his 14 Bundesliga appearances so far this season, has an average pass accuracy of 85%, which fits Rodgers’ build very well, and has won 69% of his duels on the pitch.
However, Draxler is in high demand with the Daily Star reporting on Thursday that Chelsea look set to be both Arsenal and Manchester United to his signature.
Nick Lustig writes in the Daily Star:
According to reports in Germany, Chelsea are seeking to end Draxler’s frustrations by offering out-of-favour winger De Bruyne as part of a deal to bring him to Stamford Bridge.
Any club coming in for Draxler would no doubt be forced to pay up a big sum to Schalke. Draxler signed a new deal in May this year to take his contract with the German side up to 2018.
Schalke currently sit sixth in the Bundesliga, with 24 points from 15 games. They are some 17 points behind league leaders Bayern Munich, and 7 points behind arch-rivals Borussia Dortmund.
With Liverpool having suffered a drop in form in central midfield this season, and Gerrard hitting 33-years-old, Rodgers may well be looking beyond Joe Allen and Lucas Leiva to pick up Gerrard’s pieces.
The Reds skipper is currently sidelined until January with a hamstring problem.
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