Julian Draxler: Scout Report

Julian Draxler

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.