These are the biggest construction sites after promotion to the Bundesliga

So who could be Schalke’s number one? “I know exactly who I want to see in the royal blue box next year,” says Schalke fan Frank, “Stefan Ortega!”

In the past few days, Bielefeld has become the hottest share on the Schalke goalkeeper floor. The 29-year-old has everything that the Schalke job profile advertises: Bundesliga experience, experienced, good on the ball, known for quick game openings, a speaker on and off the field, free transfer. The only problem: the well-known, financially strong competition. FC Bayern, FC Augsburg, Bayer Leverkusen and the Dutch cup winners PSV Eindhoven have repeatedly been said to be interested in Ortega. Sports director Schröder would have to grab Ortega’s emotions in order to be able to outdo his competitors.

In addition, a potential new key player like Ortega should first want to know who will coach him next season before signing for Schalke. Promotion coach Mike Büskens, and he made this clear again at the press conference after the game in Nuremberg, will move back into the second rank for the coming season and serve as an assistant to the new coach. There has not yet been an official announcement from the club as to whether the future trainer has already been found and what name he uses. However, that does not mean that the position has not yet been filled, says S04 fan Frank. Because: “Rouven Schröder achieves something actually impossible at Schalke: he manages to work in secret.” The two transfers of the two central defenders Leo Greiml and Ibrahima Cissé, which have already been made for the new season, went completely silently.

So there is still room for speculation and discussion as to who Büskens’ successor will be on the Schalke sidelines. Daniel Farke (BVB past) and Sandro Schwarz (kept on his job in Moscow despite Russian aggression in Ukraine), who have been talked about by various media, are unlikely to be serious candidates due to Schalke’s newly developed sensitivity under Schröder. The available Bruno Labbadia and Florian Kohfeldt are likely to have disqualified themselves from employment at Schalke, which is striving for a medium-term game philosophy, due to their opportunistic understanding of football.

Given this situation, who would the fans want as a coach? “Adi Hütter”, it shoots out of Matteo. However, the 22-year-old also puts it directly: “We are Austrian compatriots, so I would be very happy to sign him.”