Schalke 04: 20 most expensive transfers in Schalke 04 history

6. Yevhen Konoplyanka—$13.75m

Another attempt by Schalke to revive a sputtering attack, the Ukranian Yevhen Konoplyanka looked to be the real deal. He had a fantastic scoring record at Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, accounting for 35 goals in 157 appearances, but when he moved to Sevilla, the red flags were certainly there. His attacking skill wasn’t translating and it only amounted to four goals in 32 appearances.

As Schalke often do, they saw the potential for rescue, to revive a talent that was clearly just looking for a better place to ply his trade.

So they brought him in on loan with an obligatory buyout clause at the end of that loan.

While his overall numbers don’t look terrible—13 goals in 78 appearances—only six of those goals came in the Bundesliga, with five of them coming in Cup fixtures. Still, altogether he wasn’t a complete failure, he just wasn’t a solution either.

Of course, when it came time to sell, Schalke settled for pennies. Just $1.65 million. Not exactly a good return on investment. But that changes at No. 5.