Schalke 04: 20 most expensive transfers in Schalke 04 history
By Josh Sippie
12. Omar Mascarell—$11m
You may notice a trend with a lot of guys on this list—most of them are recent signings, as the football transfer market continues to inflate. But most of the positives on this list, like Omar Mascarell and numerous other guys before him, are lower on the list.
For Mascarell, he broke a long history of poor defensive midfield investments by Die Knappen. While he didn’t pay initial dividends, his second year at Schalke—the 2019/20 season—has been a tremendous boost for both his individual value and for the Royal Blues in general, who have come to rely on his defensive stability at the base of the midfield.
Having impressed in the Real Madrid youth ranks, there was always a belief that Mascarell would be capable of some extraordinary things and that really started to pan out at Eintracht Frankfurt. This is why it was so troubling that things didn’t immediately translate when he joined Schalke, but patience paid off, and he’s now the captain of the club as well as arguably the best and most reliable asset to the team.
It was his injury that played a major factor in the slew of defensive capitulations at Schalke around the pause of the 2019/20 season, adding further proof of his value.
On to No. 11.