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The first Julian Draxler rumor to appear on this site was on July 16. That's over six weeks ago and with plenty twists and turns going on along the way that made it resemble a long and eventful transfer saga nobody wanted it to end up being.
There finally seems to be an end to this damn thing. And it doesn't involve Draxler flying to Italy and being mobbed by Juventus supporters at the airport. Heck, he's not even leaving the country.
Draxler, Schalke's 21-yard-old German starlet is no longer a Schalke player. That's because Schalke have succeeded in what they wanted all along — if Draxler was to leave the club, he was going to go for a boatload of cash. Reports out of both Germany and Italy are starting that Draxler is set to sign with Wolfsburg, as they spend a good chunk of their Kevin de Bruyne cash to bring Draxler in as a direct replacement.
#Draxler al @VfL_Wolfsburg: 5 anni a 5 milioni (bonus compresi) a lui, 36 (bonus compresi) allo #schalke @SkySport
— Gianluca Di Marzio (@DiMarzio) August 30, 2015
Don't understand Italian? Well, let me break it down for you real quick.
Wolfsburg are about to hand Draxler a five-year contract worth €5 million a season. And with Draxler set to sign with Wolfsburg — a club he was playing against just a few days ago — Schalke are set to receive €36 million including bonuses. That is ... a lot a lot a lot of money for Julian Draxler.
Is it Juventus' fault that it got to this level? Well, that's what everybody will be yelling about for the next couple of days. As we've come to hear about, Juve were never going to pay that kind of money that Schalke ended up accepting for Draxler. We don't know what Juventus' final offer was before Wolfsburg came in and snatched Draxler right from under Beppe Marotta's nose, and we may never find out.
But this is what we do know: Draxler won't be a Juventus player, and now it's time to move on because of it.
Now we just wait and see where Juventus go after missing out on their No. 1 trequartista target. At least we know the pursuit of the next one won't last another six weeks. Thank goodness the end of the transfer window is finally within sight.