It’s been a tale of two halves for Schalke 04 this season.
The arrival of Jürgen Klopp protégé David Wagner was hailed as a progressive step forward after a disastrous 2018-19 campaign that saw the club flirt with relegation, and that excitement was thoroughly justified through 18 games as Schalke climbed as high as fifth in the Bundesliga.
Since then, Schalke has gone 11 matches without a win (four draws, seven defeats) and fallen to 10th in the table. For a footballing mad city like Gelsenkirchen this just isn’t good enough, and although the 62,000-seat Veltins-Arena now sits empty on match days, the noise surrounding Wagner’s future has reached a crescendo.
Ahead of Sunday’s match against 14th-place Union Berlin, Wagner was given the dreaded vote of confidence.
The former U.S. international needs to find a fix for Schalke’s attacking woes as his side has only managed three goals during this wretched 11-game run (the last two being scored by defensive midfielder Weston McKennie). Compounding the issue is the season-ending injury that leading scorer Suat Serdar suffered at the end of May.
With the attack gone cold and Wagner’s job on the brink, it’s now being reported that Schalke is sounding out the legend that is Raúl for answers.
Raúl, of course, made his name during 16 years with Real Madrid — where he won six LaLiga titles, three UCL crowns and finished with 323 goals — before arriving at Schalke in 2010 at the age of 33.
Many thought he was well beyond it, but Raúl answered his critics by scoring 19 goals in his first season in Germany before following that up with 21 the next year. Both his surprising decision to join Schalke and his memorable performances earned him hero status in Gelsenkirchen, and he’s now the fan favorite to succeed Wagner.
Now 42, Raúl finished off his playing career with the New York Cosmos in 2015 before taking charge of Real Madrid’s U-15 team in 2018. He’s since been promoted to managing the Castilla (reserve) side in Spain’s third division.
Prior to the break, the team’s Segunda División B record was 10 wins, 10 draws and eight defeats — good for seventh place. More tantalizing for Schalke fans is the fact that Raúl’s side has the fourth-best attack in the division.
It remains Wagner in the dugout for now, but Sunday’s match is a must-win with fifth-place Leverkusen looming the following weekend.
