Arsenal: Real Madrid stars linked; Draxler's future complicated; Frenchman looks for loan

By Dan Zeqiri

Arsenal have benefited in the past by feeding off of Real Madrid’s and Barcelona’s crumbs, and reports this morning stating Isco and James Rodriguez are on their radar.

Marca claim that an unknown club has lodged a £71 million bid for James, with Arsenal suggested as the mystery club in question.

Arsenal’s pursuit of Riyad Mahrez has tailed off in the last few days, and Arsene Wenger is keen to add more goals to his team and that is not limited to buying a central striker.

Like Mahrez, James is strongly left footed but found himself sliding down the pecking order at the Bernabeu last season, starting just 17 La Liga games.

He did bag seven goals in those starts however, and had scored 19 goals for Colombia including an impressive six at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Clearly a great talent, at 25, James has the time to develop further but whether he is the type to hit the ground running in the Premier League is questionable.

It is hard to envisage Arsenal paying £71 million for him when they baulked at paying an even greater sum for Gonzalo Higuaín who plays in a position they desperately need.

Isco is perhaps the surer bet of the two, and the Spaniard would offer a silky, creative presence to complement the more bombastic Alexis Sanchez on the opposite flank.

However, Isco has never reached double figures in terms of goals in a domestic league season and that might prove a concern to Arsenal’s scouts.

Elsewhere, Mathieu Debuchy looks set to join Galatasaray on a season-long loan after falling out of favour in North London.

In some respects, his Arsenal career has been a tale of woeful luck, suffering an rupturing his ankle ligaments and dislocating his shoulder by February of his first season.

The French international, signed as a replacement for compatriot Bacary Sagna, never quite had the chance to prove his worth as Héctor Bellerin jumped in his grave and never looked back.

That said, Debuchy had a chance to challenge Bellerin last season but showed absolutely no hunger for that particular challenge; when he did play he was rusty and if truth be told, a liability.

Another trail that seems to have gone cold is Julian Draxler, though interestingly Wolfsburg have fined him £85,00 for misconduct.

Whether this slams the door shut on a possible move or makes him even more disillusioned remains to be seen.

Draxler missed Wolfsburg’s pre-season friendly against Malmo, citing a knee injury, because he was locked in discussions with the club’s board and owner about his behaviour and his future.

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