Arsenal Send Representatives to Seal Deal for Julian Draxler - Report

Arsenal are making a last-ditch attempt to sign Julian Draxler from Schalke in January, according to the Daily Mirror.

The £35m-rated midfielder is top of Arsene Wenger's shopping list and the Gunners were expected to make a move in the summer. However the absence of Theo Walcott has persuaded the Frenchman to bring the deal forward and give Arsenal a viable chance to end their eight-season trophy drought.

Club representatives are on their way to Germany to complete a deal for the midfielder, who has been out injured since December and is expected to come back into full fitnes only in February.

The Gunners are extremely interested in sealing a deal for the player whom Wenger is eager to convert into a striker in the same ilk as Robin van Persie.

The player is open to making a switch in January but Schalke are unwilling to sell and are determined to stave off interest till the summer.

Draxler has previously expressed his desire to move to the Emirates and has revealed that he is in regular contact with the likes of Per Mertesacker, Mesut Ozil and Lukas Podolski.

"I have always said English teams are very big clubs and Arsenal is of course one of them. Of course I sometimes speak to Mesut or Per about the team, about the club, and they always have good words and they tell me nice things," Draxler said last November.

"You never know what happens in the summer but Arsenal is a very, very nice team. They always have very young players, they play attractive football and that's what I like."

Arsenal are currently top of the league, one point ahead of Manchester City and two ahead of Chelsea with a series of tough fixtures coming up in the upcoming weeks. The Gunners face Coventry City at home on Friday before travelling to Southampton for their next league game.