The summer has brought about a lot of change at Schalke, Christian Heidel has become the club's new sporting director and this has seen the team from Gelsenkirchen bring in a new manager. Markus Weinzierl is their head coach and the club have managed to make a number of excellent and smart signings.
Baba returns to Germany
On Monday, Schalke were able to complete two more signings. Abdul Baba Rahman has returned to Germany on a season long loan from Chelsea. The 22-year-old struggled to hold down a first team spot for the Premier League side last season and it seems the young Ghanaian isn't in Antonio Conte's plans for the upcoming season.
The coming campaign will be an important one for Baba, who will look to regain his form which sparked the interest from Chelsea in his spell with FC Augsburg. This shouldn't be much of a problem as the loan move sees Baba linking up again with former coach, Weinzierl.
Weinzierl now has plenty of options for Schalke's left side, and they will now have Baba competing with Sead Kolašinac for the left back spot. Dennis Aogo is a third option, however Weinzierl sees the 29-year-old playing further up the pitch.
Another big name arrives in the shape of Coke
The other bit of business for Schalke on Sunday has seen them bring in experienced right-back Coke from UEFA Europa League holders, Sevilla. The Spanish full back arrives for a fee of €4million and the three-time Europa Legaue winner has signed a three-year contract.
The signing of the experienced Spaniard will be a welcomed sight for Schalke and their fans, not only is Coke an excellent signing he alos adds to the depth at right back. Atsuto Uchida suffered with injury problems last season and it was a big loss, however now once he's fit the miners have four options at right back. This means Júnior Caiçara and Sascha Riether may struggle for game time next term, only time will tell which of the two may have to move on to a new adventure.
Schalke leave for their training camp in Austria on Monday and both signings are expected to meet up with the squad. Baba will join up immediately while Coke has to fly back to Spain to finalise the last details with Sevilla before joining his new team mates in Mittersill.