Schalke: Don’t count out the return of Ralf Fahrmann

Schalke are reportedly eyeing up a move for Zack Steffen, despite a belief in Ralf Fahrmann’s return. A well-founded belief, I may add.

It was just back in February when Jochen Schneider said that Schalke were not going to be seeking out a No. 1 keeper to replace Alexander Nubel. With Nubel announcing that he would not be signing a contract extension, and would instead be moving to Bayern Munich to deputize for Manuel Neuer.

That left Markus Schubert to take up the assumed starting role, a job he now has yet again now that he is back to full health.

But you can’t get by with just one keeper, and rumor has it (or had it, rather) that Die Knappen were interested in Manchester City and United States international keeper Zack Steffen.

Currently on loan at Fortuna Dusseldorf, Steffen is seen as a potential No. 1 keeper, thus docking Schubert back down to the No. 2 role.

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However, the solution to all of this is Ralf Fahrmann. The long-time Schalke keeper is on loan at SK Brann, formerly Norwich City, and it’s been a bit of a fall from grace for the 31-year-old keeper. That said, 31 in keeper years is about 27 in regular years. Fahrmann still has tons of time to give and there’s no reason we shouldn’t excitedly welcome him back to the Veltins.

It wasn’t that long ago—just a year, in fact—that Fahrmann was the anchor at the back of another resolute Schalke defense across the span of nearly a decade. He’s made over 200 career appearances for the Blues, and if that doesn’t merit another shot at making it as the No. 1 keeper, I don’t know what does.

Honestly, the fact that this is even still up for debate is baffling. Sure, Steffen is younger and perhaps more exciting, but another loan move when we could just bring back a true servant to the club seems counter-productive and a pretty hefty waste of resources.

There are other things this club needs to be worrying about, like how they can score goals. They don’t also need to be worrying about who’s guarding the goal, and with the dynamic duo of Schubert and Fahrmann, they won’t have to worry about it at all.

Turn that attention elsewhere. No point in going after a temporary fix at a position that has a permanent one staring you in the face. Bring Fahrmann home!