Schalke: Benjamin Stambouli has the only ingredient needed
By Josh Sippie
With Benjamin Stambouli’s contract coming to an end this June, Schalke has a decision to make, but Stambouli has made that decision easy.
Schalke‘s Bosman brigade is coming up this summer, with Alexander Nubel leaving for sure and several other guys on the hook to walk for free. Among them are regular first-teamers Benjamin Stambouli and Daniel Caligiuri.
As of yet, no official progress has been made towards extending either of them, but according to reports in April, Schalke was interested in keeping them beyond this year. Which is the first step. And for Benjamin Stambouli, he has the only ingredient that Die Knappen needs to get him to stay longer—he wants to stay.
According to Montepellier chairman Laurent Nicollin, Stambouli wants to continue “the adventure in Germany and even stay at Schalke.” Which is all I need to hear and all the club should need to hear either—sign him up.
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In an age where we just don’t know how much the Royal Blues will have to invest in increasing their personnel choices, there’s no room to be picky. If Stambouli wants to stay, keep him.
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It’s not just a matter of not having anyone else, though. Stambouli is no slouch. Don’t forget that at the start of the year, before his season-ending injury, Stambouli was the guy keeping Ozan Kabak and Matija Nastasic on the bench. Together with Salif Sane, he formed the anchor of a very resolute defense, and a defense that might be losing out on Jean-Clair Todibo next year.
Meaning that, especially with what we’ve seen this year in terms of injuries, Stambouli staying is more than a last resort. It should be a priority.
Stambouli will be 30 at the start of next season. That’s not old by any stretch. We can still conceivably get another couple of years out of him, same as we’re hoping to do with Bastian Oczipka. These are quality players who can help Schalke keep fighting the good fight to get back into European competition and, as long as we have them, can negate the necessity to buy new, potentially expensive, and potentially unproven players.
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Stambouli wants to stay. That’s always such a valuable ingredient when considering the risk of the Bosman. He’s valuable to the club, he’s versatile in his positioning, and he’s proven. We know what we can get out of him. So sign him up and reap the rewards.