Bright future for Schalke prodigy
Julian Draxler may still be in his early-20s, but he already has his name in FC Schalke 04's history books thanks to his prodigious attacking talent.
Local boy
The midfielder made his Bundesliga debut for the Royal Blues on January 15th 2011, coming on as an 83rd minute substitute at home to Hamburger SV. Aged just 17 years 117 days at the time, Draxler broke the previous club record held by Rüdiger Abramczik by 57 days.
Draxler was born on September 20th 1993 in the town of Gladbeck, just 11 kilometres outside Gelsenkirchen, the home of Schalke. The attacking midfielder joined the club in the 2001/02 season and has been with them ever since. He rounded off his debut campaign in the senior team by scoring the all important first goal in Schalke's 5-0 thrashing of MSV Duisburg in the 2011 DFB Cup final.
Despite his tender years, Draxler has become an increasingly key member of Schalke's side and played in all but four games in the 2011/12 campaign, starting 21 matches. His composed performances last term, including two goals and three assists, earned him a call up into Joachim Löw's provisional Germany squad for EURO 2012. He made his debut for Germany in the 5-3 defeat to Switzerland on May 26th 2012 after replacing Lukas Podolski in the 62nd minute. While he was left out of the final tournament squad, there can be no doubt that Draxler looks to have an extremely promising future.
