Many Schalke fans believed striker Emil Höjlund would make his breakthrough in the second division team this season. But he is injured once again.

In many areas, FC Schalke 04 has made a successful fresh start in the summer of 2025: sporting director Frank Baumann runs the club calmly, coach Miron Muslic is loved by many fans, and the team is playing successfully and is in second place.

But one thing that hasn’t changed, for example, is that Emil Höjlund is still constantly injured. Immediately after taking office, Muslic raved about his “interesting profile,” and club insiders said that Höjlund could benefit so much from the new coach that he could be expected to make his breakthrough.

And then? After Höjlund rushed from injury to injury in the 2024/2025 season under former coaches Karel Geraerts and Kees van Wonderen, he missed the first few weeks of Muslic’s summer preparations. Nevertheless, he was part of the squad for the first four games and even started in Dresden.

However, when he was substituted at half-time, he was in so much pain again that he could only join in the 1-0 victory celebrations by hopping on one leg. He has been out of action ever since. It has now been six weeks, and there is no return to training in sight. Schalke have not even announced an exact diagnosis. Schalke coach Miron Muslic: “There is no time frame for Emil Höjlund.” Even the usually eloquent Miron Muslic remained tight-lipped about the Höjlund case. “There is no time frame,” Muslic said. “I would then be putting unnecessary pressure on everyone involved, on the player himself, and also on our medical department. We are in the process of finding out the exact cause. Once we have that, it will be the first step for Emil towards recovery and back to the team.” As this editorial team understands, Höjlund is once again being examined in detail from head to toe by various doctors to find a possible reason why he keeps getting injured. He has only played in 14 of the 42 possible second division games so far.

But he is not the only one who will be unavailable for Schalke in Hanover (Friday, 6:30 p.m./Sky). Höjlund continues to share the locker room for long-term injured players with Tomas Kalas, Timo Becker, and Zaid Tchibara, whose return is not foreseeable. Also missing are the injured Bryan Lasme, Peter Remmert, and Christian Gomis. Max Grüger could be back in action. The 20-year-old has recovered from a broken toe and has been training fully with the Schalke pros since the beginning of the week. The best personnel news for Muslic: national team players Nikola Katic (Bosnia-Herzegovina), Moussa Sylla (Mali), and Vitalie Becker (Germany U20) have returned healthy.