Shortly before the change window closes, FC Schalke 04 struck the transfer market and committed a Bundesliga-experienced player. Offensive all-rounder Aymen Barkok comes from Mainz 05 to Gelsenkirchen.
The 26-year-old still had a contract with Mainz 05 until summer, and Schalke signed a working paper until the end of the season.
“With Aymen we commit a midfielder who can give our game new impulses in different positions,” said S04 Spoprt Director Youri Mulder: “He brings experience from more than 100 Bundesliga games and will quickly get used to Schalke here.”
Barkok has been active for Mainz 05 since 2022 – but he did not really prevail there. At the beginning of 2024, the Mainz borrowed him to second division Hertha BSC, in the 2024/25 season the dribble-strong offensive man returned to the Rhineland-Palatinate capital.
In the current season, Barkok was on the lawn in four Bundesliga games.
The 18-time Moroccan international had given his Bundesliga debut under today’s BVB coach Niko Kovac in 2016 for the Mainz Rival Eintracht Frankfurt: In the 2-1 away win of the SBU in Bremen, he even scored the winning goal.
With the Frankfurters, Barkok won the DFB Cup in 2018 with a 3-1 win over Bayern Munich. He scored a total of 58 Bundesliga games for Eintracht by 2022 and scored four goals. From 2018 to 2020 BarkoK played on a loan for Fortuna Düsseldorf, and the Fortunes made it to relegation with the Fortunes in 2019. In 2022, the Moroccan then switched to Mainz 05.
Does Barkok revitalize the Schalke game?
“I am very pleased that I will receive the chance to show my skills on the pitch in the coming months. I would like to use them with good performances to help the team and the club,” Barkok in a Schalke becomes a Schalke Cited.
For S04 Barkok is the hoped-for winter access for midfield. The royal blue rank after 20 match days in the 2nd Bundesliga with 24 points on a disappointing 13th place and will have nothing to do with the climb.