Raul is seeming on his way out of Schalke. He won’t be going to Blackburn and in the opinion of guest writer Ross Dunbar, he needs to stay where he is if success is to come to his new club…
After seeing bitter rivals Borussia Dortmund cruise to the Bundesliga title last season; the penalty shoot-out triumph over Jurgen Klopp’s side in the DFL Super Cup came at the perfect time for the fans and for the Schalke team ahead of the new season. Ralf Fährmann was the hero on the night in the Veltins Arena as he filled the jersey of departed goalkeeper Manuel Neuer for the first time. The 22-year-old saved two of the penalties from Kevin Großkreutz and Ivan Perisic to give Schalke the first silverware of the campaign.
And a thumping 11-1 victory over lower league side FC Teningen certainly improved the morale around the club ahead of the opening clash against VfB Stuttgart. However, Die Konigsblauen went down 3-0 on the first day of the Bundesliga season in the Mercedes-Benz Arena and immediately questions were raised over Ralf Rangnick. Rangnick wasn’t impressed by the manner of Schalke’s defeat and especially, the way in which his side shipped goals against Bruno Labbadia’s men.
He told KICKER: “In the first half hour, we played an even match. We were good defensively, but our play on the counter-attack was not precise enough. For the first goal we fell asleep twice and lost two header challenges. What was missing was the determination and the desire to make a goal.”
And after Lukas Podolski put FC Koln ahead on 12 minutes in their second match on the season, an air of discontent sweeped around the stadium but after making a bold 13th minute substitution, the hosts eased to an impressive 5-1 victory and heaped more pressure on Stale Solbakken. Klaas-Jan Huntelaar was on red hot form with three goals for Schalke and both Raul and Lewis Holtby got on the score-sheet in the victory.
Questions were already being asked of Rangnick’s position at the club following the defeat in Stuttgart which saw the former Hoffenheim coach make some surprising changes to the team after two excellent victories over Borussia Dortmund and FC Teningen. The young prodigy Julian Draxler was replaced by Jermaine Jones for the opening match with Stuttgart and with Holtby in a wide-left position, Schalke looked very stale going forward and were brushed aside by the classy Die Roten.
Holtby, who was on loan at Mainz last season, has excelled in a central position so far this season for Schalke and Rangnick’s decision to bring in the defensive-minded Jones and Matip certainly upset the balance of the side. The crashing win over the Billy Goats is obviously important for three points and for momentum but more importantly, it is another sign how good Schalke’s strongest eleven could be this season.
But attention in recent days has turned to the future of striker Raul Gonzalez who has been strongly linked with a move away from the club. Sporting director Horst Heldt told BILD: “Yes, on Monday evening there was an official mail inquiry from Blackburn. His advisor told me that Raul will not move to Blackburn. I do not know what will happen until the end of the transfer window on 31 August. Raul tells us that he wants to change, we need to deal with it.”
Raul has settled in well in Gelsenkirchen since joining from Real Madrid last summer and topped off his first season with the club by lifting the DFB Pokal in May. However, whispers have come out from Schalke which have indicated that Raul is not happy with the role he is given in Ralf Rangnick’s starting eleven. In the 4-2-3-1, Raul plays in a supporting striker role behind Huntelaar which is a bit of a luxury for Schalke at times.
For sure though, if Schalke have any intention of lifting their first ever Bundesliga crown then Raul’s future with the club has to be secured before any clubs from England come calling
Ross Dunbar is an expert on German football and can be regularly found writing about it for STV Sport. You can follow him on Twitter @rossdunbar93 and read his work at his website Bundesliga Fußball.
