Julian Draxler: Scout Report.... Julian Draxler is one of the most up and coming talents from the Bundesliga and the Schalke player is making huge strides to cement his place in the starting XI and as a great of world football. At just 19, he is showing the world why he will be an outstanding player once he grows and develops. Profile Draxler was born and raised in Germany. He was born in Gladbeck, Germany on September 20th 1993. He began his career at just seven years old when he joined BV Rentfort. He quickly moved clubs and went to SSV Beur but this ended as a brief spell because Schalke came in for the youngster in 2001 when he was just 8 years old. He spent a long time in the youth setup of Schalke before making it to the first team. Draxler first broke into the squad of Schalke in the Bundelsiga on 15th January 2011, making him just 18- years-old, in a loss versus Hamburger SV. Julian became the fourth youngest player in Bundesliga history when he came on in this game. He then started a Bundesliga game one week later against Hannover in which Schalke become victorious with a 1-0 win over the team. He become the second youngest field player after Nuri Sahin to start a game in the Bundesliga. His first goal came for Schalke in the quarter finals of the DFB Pokal tournament against Nuremburg in which he scored in the dying moments of extra time to make it 3-2 to Schalke and to send him and his teammates through to the semis. Schalke went onto win the DFB Pokal with a win over MSV Duisburg in the final, Draxler scoring the opening goal with a volley from outside the penalty box. This was his first major honour at the German club. Draxler’s first Bundesliga goal came against St Pauli on the 1st April 2011. The following season, Draxler played a very important part in Schalke’s Champions League qualification appearing in 30 of 34 league games. His international career kicked off on August 9th 2011 when he scored his debut goal for Germany U21s when his side beat Cyprus 4-1 in a qualifier for the 2013 European Championships. Draxler got called up to the provisional squad on May 7th 2012. He then got his first call up to the Germany senior team when he featured in Germany’s shock loss to Switzerland with a 5-3 scoreline. He replaced Arsenal’s Lukas Podolski. Julian came ever so close to get his first goal for the German national side but was denied through a deflection. His first goal came against the USA in the 81st minute on the 2nd June 2013. He brought the score to 3-4, this was a game which Germany lost though. Draxler is 6 foot 2 inches tall but he isn’t the target man style of player. He has sheer pace with superb ball control, he also possesses great dribbling technique. Draxler can also strike a ball with accuaracy and can cross a ball as well which gives him quite an all round game apart from aerial ability in which he lacks but which is weird as he is a fairly tall person. He is capable of playing anywhere across the midfield, if it’s out wide or through the middle he can adapt his play to suit his position on the pitch. When Holtby was at Schalke, he was deployed out wide which made him change his style to suit where he is on the pitch but now Holtby has left, Schalke deploy him more centrally which is his natural position. He can provide a lot of passes and chances for his teammates which could end up in assists building up. Not only can he pass but he can score goals as well. As said just before, Draxler can score goals. He made 30 appearances last season and scored 10 from a midfield position which shows he can finish chances. Below is a chart which shows that he can score from various places around the box with some outside of the area shots flying in. One of his strengths is his shots and shown by a few of his goals, you can see why this is one of his more positive attributes. Draxler managed to create 45 chances for Schalke last season, which shows that he as an eye for a pass and has the creative spark to give a teammate a chance at goal. 66.7% of these chances came from the centre of the opponents half which shows on lookers that he is most effective through the middle but with 33.3% of chance coming from outwide, it shows that he is able to mold into positions. Not only can he create chances but his pass accuaracy is also brilliant with a percentage of 82%. He made 687 successful passes last season compared to 152 which were unsuccessful. Draxler doesn’t just carry strengths though as he struggles with his aerial ability. He scored 10 goals last season but not one of them came from a header. This chart shows us that he scored all 10 of his goals with his feet, 3 coming from his left and 7 coming from his right. Not one goal was used with his head and this is why this is presented as a weakness of his. If he improves his aerial ability, he could become a better all round player. With is the height of 6 foot 2, there is no reason why he cannot use his height and improve his aerial ability. Transfer Situation Schalke have said they will not sell Julian Draxler despite clubs being interested. The clubs arch rivals Borussia Dortmund made an approach for the youngster but Schalke turned it down not wanting to lose their player. Draxler caused a stir though saying he would be a perfect fit to Dortmund’s midfield. “In sporting terms, I would definitely have fit into the Dortmund team,” he said in an interview with Sport1. Interest floods in for him despite him sealing a deal which will keep him at Schalke until 2018.
Posted on: Wed, 14 Aug 2013 17:59:10 +0000
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