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Thursday Kickoff: Draxler linked with Chelsea move; Lanús crowned Sudamericana champions; and more

JulianDraxlerSchalke1-FCBaselUCL (AP)

By DAN KARELL

Chelsea could be set to bring one of Germany’s top talents to the English Premier League this January.

According to a report in German publication SportBild, Jose Mourinho is considering a move that would send Belgian winger Kevin De Bruyne and cash to FC Schalke in exchange for 20-year-old attacking midfielder Julian Draxler, who scored for Schalke in its 2-0 UEFA Champions League victory on Wednesday.

Draxler has already been capped 10 times by Joachim Löw with the German national team and he’s been a target of many of the top teams in Europe, including Arsenal, Real Madrid, and Chelsea. Despite Mourinho promising to remain loyal to De Bruyne at the start of the season, the young Belgian hasn’t received as much playing time as he would have liked, making only eight appearances for the Blues.

SportBild believes that in addition to sending De Bruyne to Schalke, Chelsea would need to make an eight-figure transfer fee to acquire Draxler. If Draxler did make the move to Stamford Bridge, he would join his compatriot Andre Schürlle in the squad.

Here are some more stories to start your Thursday:

LANÚS WINS FIRST EVER COPA SUDAMERICANA TITLE

For only the second time in its 98 year history, Lanús has a South American international title.

Thanks to first half goals from Victor Ayala and Ismael Blanco, The Argentine club was crowned Copa Sudamericana champions at its home stadium, Estadio Ciudad de Lanus. Lanús won the two-legged series over Ponte Preta 3-1 on aggregate.

Lanús opened the scoring on a counter attack started and finished by Ayala in the 25th minute. The Paraguayan found Blanco on the right side before running at full speed to the far post. Blanco played the ball back into the middle, where Ayala met the ball and smashed home. In the 45th minute, forward Santiago Silva powered a header on goal that was saved, but Blanco poked in the rebound to put the Argentine side up two goals.

Head coach Guillermo Barros Schelotto wins his first piece of silverware as a manager and can add to it this Sunday in the final day of the Torneo Inicial in Argentina.

FALCAO TO MISS THIRD CONSECUTIVE WEEK WITH INJURY

The mysterious hamstring injury to Radamel Falcao has still not yet healed.

For the third consecutive week, the Colombian striker will miss AS Monaco’s upcoming match while he rehabs the injury. According to a release from the Monaco website, he is making progress but the healing is more gradually than the club had anticipated.

Since making his 60 million euros ($82.5 million) transfer to the Ligue 1 side, Falcao has scored nine goals in 14 league appearances, as Monaco sit in second in the table in their first year back in the top division.

QUICK KICKS

Cristiano Ronaldo has reversed course and will attend the FIFA Ballon d’Or Gala. (REPORT)

Chelsea is considering a $21 million bid for Saint-Etienne stud defender Kurt Zouma. (REPORT)

Bayer Leverkusen is interested in acquiring Real Madrid’s Jese either on loan or in a transfer deal with an option to purchase him back to Madrid at a set price. (REPORT)

David Moyes has finally agreed to allow Wilfried Zaha to leave on loan in January, with Everton and Newcastle interested. (REPORT)

Chivas has acquired Mexican national team defender Jair Pereira from Cruz Azul for a transfer fee of $3 million. (REPORT)

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What do you think of these reports? See Draxler moving to Chelsea in January? Would he help them win the Premier League title? Impressed with Lanús’ Copa Sudamericana victory? Think Falcao could return for Monaco’s final match of December against Valenciennes?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. i wouldn’t be against a loan move for Jese, but i see no point in doing what we did with Carvajal again. Jese is going to be a great player, so just send him on a simple loan. no buy-back stuff.

    Reply
  2. Young German talent is infiltrating all corners of Europe’s top leagues. Time to start feeding my 2 year-old son a steady diet of spetzle and wursts.

    Reply
    • Man U will be fighting with Everton for a champions league spot. Why would they send them help in Zaha. That doesn’t make a bit of sense.

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      • Touche, but Chuck has a good point. Sending out someone on loan to a club right around you in the table probably isn’t a good idea, even if the player needs some playing time, which Zaha certainly does.

  3. Draxler to Chelsea makes no sense at all for the player. Chelsea has too many attacking mids and it will prevent him from getting playing time. The highly talented Mata already has trouble breaking into the squad, don’t go there

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    • It is super dumb no matter how good Draxler is. He is rather young and Jose is all about experience. It will just be the bench for him.

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      • Draxler is immensely talented so like you said that isn’t the issue but Mata is as well and he is still glued to the bench. Moving there would be a massive mistake. Also he can just look at how they have treated KDB as an example of what can happen

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