Ralf Fahrmann has become the latest player to sign on at the Veltins Arena. The German shot-stopper has agreed a four year deal with the Gelsenkirchen giants tying him down until 2019.

“We’re delighted that he has tied himself down to Schalke for a long term,” said the club’s director of sport Horst Heldt.

“Despite many injury setbacks, he has never let himself get down and he has worked hard for his return in goal.

“Fortunately he’s been successful because Ralf is a very important factor in our recovery in the second half of the season, and he can now define himself as Schalke through and through.”

Timo Hildebrand was displaced by the brilliant Fahrmann after a number of poor displays at the start of the season, and the new No.1 was delighted with his own progress.

““My dream is getting even better. I feel at home here and I’m looking forward to the coming years with Schalke.”

Fahrmann has kept a largely impressive 11 clean sheets in his 21 Bundesliga appearances and was outstanding in big losses to Real Madrid in the Champions League and Bayern Munich a few days later, not forgetting his man of the match performance against bitter rivals Borussia Dortmund in the recent Revierderby. Few can claim to boast brilliant performances despite conceding 11 goals in two games, and his manager Jens Keller has backed him to make the cut for Brazil this summer.

“If you look at how he (Fahrmann) has played in the past few weeks, he’s been on a very high level, consistently without mistakes,” Keller said.

“He definitely doesn’t have to hide behind any goalkeeper, except for Manuel Neuer maybe. But these are questions that Joachim Low has to answer, not me, he will have noticed for sure. Hans-Dieter Flick (Germany assistant coach) was also present in Real Madrid when he produced a great performance.”

Next on the agenda for Schalke is to persuade star winger Julian Draxler to stay, despite his disappointing season, whilst striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar has spoken of his desire to stay longer at the club, insisting he will be an 04 player next season. Sead Kolasinac has muttered that an offer from Manchester United is on the cards- perhaps a higher achievement to keep hold of the Bosnian, and lose Draxler for €40m+ and invest the money into new signings to strengthen the whole squad. Food for thought, Messers Heldt and Keller.

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About the author
Callum Connolly
17 year old Southend United fan. Follower of Borussia Mönchengladbach in the Bundesliga.