FC Schalke: For Ahmed Kutucu, the writing is on the wall

No matter where you look, you’ll see a similar story: “FC Schalke have a striker problem.” So where does that leave Ahmed Kutucu and how long is the wait?

If you comb through the recent news of FC Schalke, you’ll see a similar story—everyone wants to know what’s going on at striker. Jochen Schneider came out and defended Guido Burgstaller, and we should all be standing by him, drought or no, but as I always say, just because a player is struggling doesn’t mean that the only way you can stand by him is by starting him.

There is a value to having a sit down, and Burgstaller could do with that value. As far as Mark Uth, since arriving, he hasn’t proven to be the solution at striker, such that he is now more likely to find time out wide.

Rabbi Matondo is making some appearances at striker now, which is well and good, but he’s a winger, and not a solution to the problem at striker.

So the question—is there a solution to the striker problem? Here we have three guys, none of whom I would say are the solution. Even when Burgstaller does snap his drought, and it will happen, that is still just one guy.

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All the while, I imagine Ahmed Kutucu shrugging his shoulders as if to say, “I’m still here too, guys.”

Kutucu came onto the scene at the tail end of last year and slotted home three goals before capturing the attention of everyone who hadn’t already been tracking his rise through the FC Schalke system. It takes a lot for a young player to continuously play well and work hard when the team is crumbling around him.

Blessed with nearly every faculty you’d want a striker to have, I could have sworn he would be the solution that David Wagner turned to when the striker situation wore thin, but like Schneider, he’s standing by Burgstaller.

Again, I admire that. But (also again), ‘standing by’ doesn’t mean not changing anything and acting like it isn’t becoming a problem for the team.

Maybe the Revierderby isn’t the best time to start switching things up, but the writing has to be on the wall for Ahmed Kutucu. A start can’t be that far away. If he isn’t ready yet, call it a baptism by fire, we all love one of those. If he is, call it a genius maneuver, no money needs to be spent on Gabriel Barbosa.

Whatever the case, it can’t be far away. Kutucu’s time is coming and I can’t wait.