Football Season Guide

Schalke come into this season having improved upon their position from the previous campaign by one place. This means they will go straight into the group stage of the Champions League and will therefore avoid the drama of the playoff that they endured last season when they almost failed to qualify which also affected their league form. Jens Keller survived through a lot of criticism and rumours of new managers coming in but his position this season should be stronger after their strong end to last year. Schalke scraped through the Champions League group stage last year and will hope to do better now with an improved seeding. Whether they can improve further on their league position remains to be seen, they probably do not quite have the quality yet to challenge Bayern and Dortmund who are without doubt the top two sides in the league. Much will also depend on whether they can keep hold of a few important players in particular Julian Draxler, Max Meyer and Leon Goretzka. The three young German midfielders were all excellent last term, especially in the second half of the season but they can all improve and will be looking to become even more influential for the Gelsenkirchen side. Schalke have made few purchases during the summer, adding a few experienced Bundesliga players and welcoming Tranquillo Barnetta back from a season long loan. The arrival of Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting from Mainz forced Adam Szalai to leave and he has been joined by a couple of other squad players while Kyriakos Papadopoulos has left on loan to Bayer Leverkusen after an injury hit season last year. Keller has also looked to settle the goalkeeper issue before the start of the season with Ralf Fährmann announced as their number one despite the arrival of Fabian Giefer from Fortuna Düsseldorf, Timo Hildebrand and Lars Unnerstall have left. With a lot of young players in the squad Schalke will hope for some progression from them, shepherded by a few senior members of the squad. Captain Benedikt Höwedes arrives back from the World Cup with a winners medal but he will move back into his usual position of centre back for his club side and will be hugely influential for them. Kevin Prince Boateng also had an eventful summer having been removed from the Ghanian squad in Brazil and his reputation for being controversial will have to be kept in check but at his best he can be a match winner. However the undoubtable star of the show is Draxler who has often been used on the left wing of a 4-2-3-1 formation but may look to have more influence in the centre after playing behind the striker on a few occasions last year.