Former soccer world champion Julian Draxler is leaving the French top club Paris Saint-Germain and moving to Qatar. As the Al Ahli SC club announced on Monday, the 29-year-old midfielder signed a two-year contract until the summer of 2025. The transfer fee is apparently expected to be nine million euros, making Draxler Al-Ahli’s record transfer.
Draxler moved from VfL Wolfsburg to Paris in January 2017, but recently played no role there. He moved to Benfica Lisbon on loan last season. The attacking midfielder recently agreed to a move to the country of the last World Cup hosts after initial concerns.
Draxler follows Verratti to Qatar
Draxler is quoted as saying that Qatar has an excellent reputation in general sport and especially in football. The former Schalke and Wolfsburg player did not hesitate to move to Al-Ahli, he now explained.
Draxler, who won the World Cup with the German national team in 2014, is following Italian European champion Marco Verratti to Qatar, who moved from PSG to Al-Arabi SC. The French series champion has belonged to the Qatar Sports Investments fund since 2011. This makes it easier for the Paris club to transfer surplus players to Qatari teams.
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In France, Draxler won the championship and the cup four times each. In 2020 he was with Paris in the Champions League final against FC Bayern. Things aren’t looking particularly good at Al-Ahli in terms of sport: the club is in eleventh and penultimate place in the Qatar Stars League, and the start of the season was a complete failure with three defeats from three games.
