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2nd October 2013
08:17pm BST

Draxler is committed to Schalke until 2018 but there is no guarantee that he will remain in Gelsenkirchen until then; in fact, it would be a surprise if he did. In committing Draxler to the club for now, the Bundesliga side have ensured that they will get top dollar for their star man if he does decide to leave and potential suitors will have to meet a £35 million release clause if they want to get their man.
There’s no doubting that Draxler has oodles of potential and seems certain to get better and better every year, as he has so far to date. In January 2011, he became the fourth youngest player to appear in the Bundesliga when coming on a sub against Hamburg and soon became the second youngest player to start a game in the German league (after Nuri Sahin) in a win over Hannover.
That season, Draxler played in both legs of the Champions League semi-final defeat to Manchester United and despite the fact that he was still only 18, he became a regular in the Schalke midfield in the following campaign, scoring three goals in 41 appearances overall.
Draxler played predominantly on the left of midfield until the departure of Lewis Holtby to Tottenham in January of last year afforded him the opportunity to play in his favoured central role and he responded with a much improved 11 goals in 38 appearances last year.
It’s easy to stereotype when it comes to German players but Draxler is almost the prototype of a modern German midfielder and hell, he’s probably great at penalties too.
He’s not exactly beefy, but at six foot two, he has a considerable physical presence and his technical efficiency, elegance and eye for goal have already drawn comparisons with Michael Ballack, which is very high praise indeed.
Schalke have made an excellent start to the Champions League this season so football fans who don’t follow the Bundesliga closely may still see plenty of him in the competition, but looking ahead his future could well lie away from Schalke and he will likely become a fixture in the national side too.
We were going to say ‘remember the name’ but with a name like Julian Draxler it’s hard to forget. It’s the ‘X’ factor, innit?

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