The Schalke 04 Gazette
Squad31 May 2032
David Werner damages knee ligaments — 17 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 17 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market31 May 2032
Leo Castledine hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Schalke 04 can pretend not to have heard.
Squad31 May 2032
Words exchanged at Schalke 04
Mateo Retegui and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Market31 May 2032
Only the photograph left for Semih Şahin
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Semih Şahin will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Schalke 04 the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad31 May 2032
The season belongs to Jovan Milošević
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Schalke 04 have had the benefit of it.
Squad31 May 2032
A row about effort at Schalke 04
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luca Dahl Tomasson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom31 May 2032
Schalke 04 agree a free transfer for Magnus Bech Riisnæs
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
The dugout31 May 2032
Nahuel Noll gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout31 May 2032
When it matters, Assan Ouédraogo plays
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
In brief
- Market Nahuel Noll placed on the list
- Market The Assan Ouédraogo question follows Schalke 04 around
- The dugout Gabriel Sigua is still paying for one afternoon at Schalke 04