Schalke 04 return to Bundesliga action with far too many injuries to account for. Here are three youth players that need to step up in their stead.
Schalke 04 may be returning to Bundesliga action healthier, but they are by no means healthy. This season has been a complete trainwreck in the health department. It’s been particularly bad on the defense, but it has spread into the midfield as well.
As it stands, Benjamin Stambouli, Salif Sane, and Ozan Kabak are all out with season-ending injuries, which leaves the defense crippled. Moving further up the pitch, we start to see a better sign of healthy times to come, but keep in mind that Omar Mascarell, Amine Harit, Suat Serdar, and Weston McKennie have all had spells on the sidelines.
That leaves a lot of question marks and not a lot of answers since Schalke have already expended a lot of their senior club depth.
Schalke have youth to call on, and these are just the tip of the iceberg
Excluding injuries, there’s also just the simple fact that the midfield, particularly the creative midfield, has not been at its best this year, hence why we’ve already seen some call-ups from the youth side, though nothing has stuck yet.
Still, with inconsistencies and injuries a major concern, here are three young players that must be ready to step up if called upon.
3. Levent Mercan
There were about to be a lot of opportunities for young players for Schalke before the pause hit, but that pause allowed guys like Mascarell and Serdar to get healthy and return to their best fitness levels.
Still, if creating chances and instigating some kind of offensive push from the midfield proves to be a difficulty yet again, don’t be surprised if we start seeing more of Levent Mercan and the next guy on the list too. These guys have a lot of goal thrust from central and attacking midfield positions and there might not be anything that Die Knappen needs more right now.
Plus, they have become the depth options. So if David Wagner needs to shake things up, these are the people he’s going to turn to first.
Next up, No. 2.