Arsenal Transfer News: Grzegorz Krychowiak Bid Readied, Julian Draxler Rumours

Arsenal are keeping close tabs on Sevilla midfielder Grzegorz Krychowiak, with fresh reports linking the Gunners with a £22 million bid for the Poland international.

That’s according to John Percy of the Daily Telegraph, who wrote that scouts from the north London club were in attendance at Sevilla’s thrilling 5-4 Super Cup defeat to Barcelona in Tbilisi on Tuesday. It’s also reported that the holding midfielder has a €30 million release clause in his contract with the Andalusians.

Percy outlined the current situation surrounding the future of the 25-year-old:

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Arsenal have maintained a consistent interest in Krychowiak over the past 18 months and Wenger is looking to bring in another defensive midfielder to rival Francis Coquelin.

The 25-year-old joined the Stellar Group agency, who look after Joe Hart and Gareth Bale, earlier this summer and is believed to be open to the prospect of joining a Premier League club competing in the Champions League.

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Krychowiak is a player, like so many have done before him, who has excelled at Sevilla after being plucked from a less illustrious club on the continent. He signed for the La Liga side from Rennes last summer for a meagre fee of €4.5 million, per football-espana.net. He was central to Unai Emery’s team winning the Europa League title for the second successive year last season.

As we can see here courtesy of WhoScored.com, he was a defensive monster for the Andalusians in domestic matches too:

It’s an acquisition that’d make perfect sense for Arsenal. While Francis Coquelin did a good job at the base of the midfield late last term, it remains to be seen if he’s the long-term solution to this longstanding issue. The Gunners at least need some competition and support in this area of the field.

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Krychowiak would bring those qualities and has already admitted he’d find the Gunners tough to turn down. “I am very happy at Sevilla,” he said when quizzed on interest from Arsenal back in June by Polish press (h/t Sport Witness). “At the same time I'd say that in football it's a hard thing to plan for the long term. There are offers that are simply hard to reject.”

Sport Witness think the club should get the deal done:

There’s been plenty of clamour for Arsenal to sign a striker in this window, but in order for players like Mesut Ozil, Alexis Sanchez and Santi Cazorla to fully flourish, a holding midfielder is a priority. Krychowiak fits the bill in every sense for the Gunners and while his playing style may be understated, it’s a potential signing supporters should be very excited about.

Three Teams Chasing Julian Draxler

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Arsenal, Manchester United and Juventus are involved in a “three-way tussle” to sign Schalke 04 midfielder Julian Draxler, according to Tuttosport (h/t Alex Harris of the Daily Star).

As noted by the piece, the Bundesliga side have already knocked back an offer from the Bianconeri for the 21-year-old, with Schalke clearly keen on keeping the German international on their books.

But the club’s general manager Horst Heldt has admitted that should Schalke receive a big offer, the youngster will be on his way, per the Rheinischen Post (h/t Harris’ piece):

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If another club makes an astronomical offer for a player, for the good of the club you must always at least consider it.

We want to keep him, but we can only definitively put the issue to bed on August 31. To say anything else would not be honest. Today I could say ‘he will not leave’, but then a few days later a huge offer for him is put on the table.

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Draxler is a player that would align with Arsenal’s mantras. He’s a shrewd manipulator of the ball, a cerebral attacking player and a footballer with an eye for goal. But the Gunners squad is already cluttered with a plethora of attacking midfielders and Wenger does not need to go out and spend big money on strengthening this position.

Bleacher Report’s Sam Tighe took a look at where any remaining expenditure in the window might be aimed at strengthening:

For the time being, Schalke is the best place for Draxler to develop anyway. After a 2014-15 campaign that was blighted by injuries, he needs to get back in the team and scale the levels that made him one of Europe’s brightest talents the term before; do that and the very top teams will eventually come calling.

Arsenal, meanwhile, should be looking to address areas of their squad that aren’t already loaded with talent. If Wenger isn’t going to spend big money on either a destructive midfielder or dynamic striker, he shouldn’t spend at all. Any pursuit of Draxler would be over-indulgence on the part of the Gunners.