Schalke 04: Kevin Stoger free transfer works on three crucial levels

2. Functionally

Schalke really need to boost their attack this coming transfer window, and that need has several potential factors to consider. First of all, they need someone up top, like Milik, to be the finisher, the target man, the guy that ties all the other attacking pieces together.

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But they also need more help creating chances. Really badly. Amine Harit is the only guy we regularly rely on for creating chance, but being the only guy, it’s a massive risk to the club as a whole when he can’t provide in any given match.

Suat Serdar is a great creative midfielder, but he doesn’t create a lot of chances. Less than one per match, to be exact. He’s excellent off the ball, and he runs well with it, but he hasn’t doesn’t the key pass element in his game.

Kevin Stoger does. In just 550 minutes this year, he has three assists. Last year he accrued seven assists and the year before that, another six. He creates over two chances per match playing anywhere in the central midfield area and that is the kind of production that is drastically missing at Schalke. He’s the pivot man that makes things happen as he moves forward.

While it’s unclear where he would fit in the Royal Blue midfield, the fact that he creates that many chances means that we would find room for him.

Finally, No. 1.