Bayern Munich could ruin Arsenal’s summer with transfer swoop

Title challengers Arsenal may rue not upping their offer for 20-year-old Germany star Julian Draxler in January, as the Schalke forward is rumoured to be lined up for a summer move to Bundesliga oligarchs Bayern Munich.

The sides face off in the last-16 of the Champions League, with Pep Guardiola’s side 9/4 to become the first team to win the competition in successive seasons since its inception in 1992.

Arsenal are rated unlikely outsiders at 40/1 to hoist club football’s greatest trophy aloft for the first time and 14/5 to beat Bayern on their own patch in the first leg, with Guardiola’s men 4/5 to take a win back to the Allianz Arena and the draw 9/4.

The club dubbed ‘FC Hollywood’ have turned stealing their domestic rivals’ best players into an art form in recent years, with Robert Lewandowski set to become the next Borussia Dortmund star to head south after former teammate Mario Gotze’s €37m switch last summer.

According to reports in Germany, Bayern may have indicated to Schalke that they would stump up the €45m stipulated in Draxler’s release clause at the end of the season, which then led the Gelsenkirchen side to reject a significantly lower offer from Arsenal.

It seems logical that Guardiola would fancy the 6ft 2in youngster within his ranks as Draxler, who tends to play on the left-wing, is seen by many as a potential centre-forward, after scoring 13 goals in all competitions for Die Knappen last term.

Arsenal had great success during Thierry Henry’s time at the club when the iconic Frenchman completed such a conversion into their forward ranks, having arrived in north London as a winger, but the team looking to kill off their Champions League chances for the second campaign in a row could put paid to their plans for Draxler.