Schalke 04: Levent Mercan and Nassim Boujellab the next of the best

Schalke’s youth ranks are ready to churn out the next generation, and Levent Mercan and Nassim Boujellab may be the forerunners of the next class.

The questions have been asked this year of the Schalke attack, and they will likely continue to be asked as the rest of the season plays out behind closed doors. How to the Royal Blues create consistent chances and who do they count on to put those chances away? Amine Harit is a great start, Suat Serdar is fantastic, but what else?

The next young crop of Royal Blue midfielders may have the answers. It starts with Levent Mercan and Nassim Boujellab, both of whom came to the senior club in the midst of the injury crisis and proved to be creative goal threats from either central midfield or creative midfield positions.

Much like Amine Harit and Suat Serdar.

Schalke 04 has another crop of youngsters led by Nassim Boujellab and Levent Mercan

David Wagner has done his best to get these two involved in the first-team set-up, as it would be so incredibly convenient if they were good enough to carry on the mantle that we didn’t have to stress much about signing anyone else.

The sample size is still too small, but tracing in what they’ve done for Schalke II, we can start to get a good impression of what they might be able to do with the right acclimation.

Mercan, for instance, has a terrific resume in the youth set-up for Die Knappen. In about 7,000 minutes between the U17s and U19s, he amassed 17 goals and 31 assists playing across the No. 10 and more traditional central midfield roles. Since moving up to Schalke II, which only happened this year, he’s notched two assists in five appearances. Not to mention the goal he scored for the senior outfit in the DFB-Pokal Cup.

Boujellab looks to be even further ahead of the curve. I dug into him more specifically in a post yesterday, but David Wagner’s insistence on getting him involved makes it seem like there’s a good deal of faith that he could be the answer we seek in the midfield. If nothing else, to alleviate the pressure that is so often too much for Amine Harit alone.

These are two young midfielders raised in the Schalke system who just need a chance to stretch their legs. Their youth track record shows a consistent and reliable threat to goal, a focus on creating first, but no stumbling blocks in front of goal. Just the way it ought to be.