DFB team a “big dream”
“When I got closer to the 30 mark, I really wanted to break it,” says center forward Simon Terodde about his goal record of 30 goals set last weekend in the past season. Never before has a professional from the “Royal Blues” been able to boast such a quota in the 2nd Bundesliga, Sven Demandt was last able to do this in the 1988/89 season in the jersey of Fortuna Düsseldorf. In an interview with “sports1“The 34-year-old top scorer now announced that he was far from wasting any thoughts on the end of his career – rather, the Bocholter native also wanted “to step on the gas next season with my kind and put my stamp on”.
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Terodde’s contract in Gelsenkirchen runs until 2023, but the most successful German goalscorer in the first two professional leagues with a total of 54 goals over the past two seasons is not thinking about a change in the summer. Similar to interim coach Mike Büskens, the attacker is hoping for further reinforcements in the summer after being promoted to the Bundesliga in order to keep Schalke competitive in the league – because the goal is for the “squires” who have become “humble” (“Nobody dreams of international games here”) is first and foremost relegation: “We have laid the foundation, but of course we now need more quality. We certainly don’t go into this league with daydreaming eyes. We accept anyone who can help us. We can use reinforcements in every position, that’s definitely the case.”
While the players will be going on their well-deserved vacation in the next few days after returning to the Bundesliga, squad planning is in full swing. On Tuesday, the Royal Blues confirmed that loanees Andreas Vindheim (26; Sparta Prague) and Yaroslav Mikhailov (19; Zenit St. Petersburg) are returning to their home clubs. In addition, the expiring contracts of Salif Sané (31), Martin Fraisl (29) and Marc Rzatkowski (32) will not be extended. “We cannot take everyone with us who helped us to rise. There will definitely be tears that are not positive,” announced sporting director Rouven Schröder. The 46-year-old radically turned the S04 squad upside down after being relegated to the Bundesliga last summer and got rid of old financial burdens, which in retrospect earned him the title of Schalke “king’s transfer” from coach Büskens. Terodde is also confident that Schröder will “put together a good team” together with sports director Peter Knäbel, because personal performance “always depends on your team-mates, I’ve benefited enormously from the boys this season”.
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Schalke 04: Terodde in the national team? “Of course a big dream”
The right-footed player wants to expand his manageable top-flight quota of ten goals in 58 games to date, which would be grist to the mills of fans and experts who have been wanting the striker in the national team for some time. When asked about a possible debut and chances of participating in the World Cup, Terodde is reluctant: “Of course, the national team is a big dream. For which footballer not? But I’m totally humble and keep pushing. If Hansi Flick really decides in the end that he needs a striker for Qatar who can play up front and score goals, and then he should think of me, then of course I’m ready. But right now I’m not thinking too much about it.”
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It is clear for the 34-year-old, who could meet all his former clubs of the past ten years in the coming season with Union Berlin, Cologne, Stuttgart, Bochum and possibly Hamburger SV in the upper house, that his career is far from over should tend towards – rather he wants to play “for a very, very long time” at the highest level: “I am now reaching the best age as a striker. I’m just realizing that. Strikers and goalkeepers benefit enormously from their experience. I feel fit, train a lot and live totally consciously. I’ve shown that I’m really in top shape this season.”
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