Juventus not pleased about Julian Draxler dealings with 'mysterious' club Schalke

When Julian Draxler made the switch from Schalke 04 to Wolfsburg, the brass at Juventus were left scratching their heads in confusion.

The Italian champions were reportedly interested in the services of the 21-year-old German midfielder, but the club's general manager, Giuseppe Marotta, says dealing with Schalke made the potential transfer fizzle out.

"Talks with Schalke, who are a mysterious club, were difficult," Marotta told Gazzetta dello Sport via ESPN. "We pulled out because their demands were disproportionate. €36-million is an exaggeration, and then the player didn't want to come either. I'm disappointed not for the fact that we didn't get him, but that there was nobody to negotiate with."

For Juventus, the failure to land Draxler, coupled with the loss of Arturo Vidal to Bayern Munich, left the midfield rather thin. But, adding Hernanes and keeping Paul Pogba allows the Old Lady to remain competitive in Serie A. Ultimately, for Marotta, building the roster means finding a healthy balance between star names and young up-and-comers.

"We need to find some continuity with a mix of young and less young players, and it is a difficult challenge to rebuild a winning squad," Marotta said. "We are obliged to win again, even this year. It's going to be hard to do better than last year because that would entail winning the Champions League.

"But we are building a side with good prospects, a side which will do better than we have done in recent years as they gain experience. But we still want to win and if we do manage to repeat what we did (last year), that would be extraordinary."