Schalke sweat on the vexing issue of Julian Draxler as Real Madrid come

The prized asset of the club is the envy of others and the German side know that they have to make the most of the time he is here, including tonight's game against fancied Real Madrid.

Schalke will be hoping that Julian Draxler will come back from injury well to play against Real Madrid. Wolfgang Rattay / Reuters

It was only 26 minutes and it was only as a substitute against Mainz, but it was enough.

When Julian Draxler went down with a tendon injury at the beginning of December, it was thought he would be out until March, but he is back in action after coming off the bench in Schalke's Bundesliga match on Friday, and there is a possibility he could start tonight's Uefa Champions League tie against Real Madrid.

Schalke remain the underdogs, but where there is Draxler there is hope.

It is a ludicrous burden to place on a 20 year old, but Draxler has been dealing with that pressure since he made his debut at age 17 and 117 days, when he came off the bench in a 1-0 defeat to Hamburg in January 2011 to become the fourth youngest player in Bundesliga history.

A week later, against Hannover, he became the second-youngest player – after Nuri Sahin – to start a Bundesliga game.

By the following season Draxler had become a regular. The year after that, he added goals, scoring 10 in 24 Bundesliga starts.

Inevitably, Europe’s giants are circling. Arsenal were strongly linked to him in the January transfer window only for the deal to fall through, because it was said Bayern Munich had suggested they were interested in signing him in the summer.

That issue remains murky: Schalke have revealed Arsenal made a bid of €30 million (Dh151.4m). Bayern, who initially insisted they were not interested, have acknowledged a bid is possible, but the Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer said he believes Draxler will stay at Schalke next season.

Schalke seem to have accepted that Draxler will be leaving at some point.

“It would do Draxler good to spend another year or two with us,” said their chairman, Clemens Tonnies. “But we know we’re not going to be able to keep a super-talented player like Julian at Schalke forever.

“If another club comes in for him, then we cannot block them. That would be unfair. I don’t think he wants to join Bayern Munich, though.”

Draxler, who grew up in Gelsenkirchen, seems in no great rush to leave. “I keep saying Schalke are all about tradition and emotions,” said Schalke’s youth academy director Oliver Ruhnert.

“Every player in our youth academy is talented, but you need the right will and identification, and desire to represent Schalke.” Draxler, he said, has “Schalke in his heart”.

What is striking about Draxler is what a modern player he is. Germany already has a fine crop of all-round attacking midfielders and Draxler fits the mould perfectly – in fact, he is the oldest of Schalke’s fine trident of young creators, along with Leon Goretzka and Max Meyer.

He is not just a creator and goalscorer, he is also well aware of his defensive responsibilities.

This season, according to whoscored.com, he has made 1.8 tackles and 0.9 interceptions per game: in other words, he has regained the ball on average 2.7 times per game.

That means today, if he starts, Draxler is likely to have a key role in looking to unsettle Xabi Alonso and prevent him from setting the tempo from the back of midfield.

Modern creators also have to defend and it is one of Draxler’s key assets that he is willing and able to do that.

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