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Liverpool are in need of attacking reinforcements. With Danny Ings out for the year and Daniel Sturridge an ongoing injury concern, a recent injury to Philippe Coutinho showed just how thin the position has become for the club of late. And Sadio Mané is leaving for the AFCONs in less than a month.
Assuming Coutinho is back by then, which he is expected to be, Liverpool will still be able to run out a quality starting eleven. But they’ll be looking to the likes of promising youngsters Ovie Ejaria and Ben Woodburn to come off the bench if a game needs changing—or if another starter gets an injury.
It’s all added up to a heavy focus on attacking talent heading into the January transfer window, with the consensus being that Liverpool will look to acquire a proven, high-quality, versatile attack as quickly as they possibly can. And it appears that Julian Draxler is very high up on their wish list.
That’s according to James Pearce of The Liverpool Echo and a slew of others. There’s enough weight behind it, though, and enough coming from reliable journalists with ties to the club, to safely assume the interest is real. Liverpool want to sign Wolfsburg’s 23-year-old attacker Julian Draxler in January.
However, there’s some bad news to go along with that. Namely that it appears Paris Saint-Germain are strong favourites to sign the rising star, whose value has been set at around £35M, a fee Liverpool can well afford to pay after Jürgen Klopp turned a £60M budget into a profit in the summer transfer market.
"I am in talks with a couple of clubs, but so far no decision has been made,” Draxler admitted to Bild this week, revealing that he and his agent have in fact been looking to get him a move away from Wolfsburg when the window opens. “We will all sit down and make a sensible decision that is suitable for us."
Draxler has been linked with PSG, Liverpool, and Arsenal in recent weeks, and the three clubs are considered the frontrunners for his services. Despite Klopp’s presence at Anfield, though, and Liverpool currently being in the midst of a title challenge, by all accounts Paris appears the most likely destination.