The injury to goalkeeper Justin Heekeren in the Knappen’s professional training camp has also affected the S04 U23s. What could happen there now?
The news of the injury to goalkeeper Justin Heekeren (injury to the outer meniscus and cruciate ligament) is not only bitter for the professionals of FC Schalke 04. The bad news from the S04 training camp in Belek also has serious repercussions for the club’s U23s.
Heekeren, who is a member of the professional squad but is to be built up in peace and quiet, has played in 15 of the 19 games of the U23s in the regional league so far this season.
The injury to his right knee is all the more annoying. During the training camp in Turkey, the 21-year-old twisted his ankle without any outside influence. The injury means the end of the season for the keeper. In the meantime, the talent, for whom Schalke paid a transfer fee of 180,000 euros to RW Oberhausen in the summer, has left the training camp, he will undergo surgery in Innsbruck and will be out for about six months.
Who will now replace Heekeren at the U23? The injury could be the chance for another goalkeeping talent for the Königsblauen. Although Justin Treichel has not played a single second in goal for S04 so far this Regionalliga season, his time could have come now.
Treichel had joined the regional league team from the club’s U19s in the summer and had been on the bench for the last six games. Norbert Elgert attested him a leap in performance in the final phase of last season, which probably also earned him the U23 contract.
Has his time come now? In the games so far in which Heekeren did not play for the U23s because he was needed for the professionals, Radomir Novakovic was in goal. The former Serbian U19 international joined the U23s in January last year and is considered a classic back-up. However, he could only convince to a limited extent in the games so far and also conceded five goals in the five games.
Daniel Rose will definitely no longer be able to help. The Irish youth international left the club a few weeks ago for the USA. He was only the fourth goalkeeper in the previous hierarchy and had no prospects of playing time.
Luca Podlech, however, is currently regarded as the biggest goalkeeping talent in the Knappenschmiede. The 17-year-old convinced the U19s in the first half of the season with some outstanding performances. Most recently, he secured the Schalke U19s’ place in the DFB Cup semi-finals against VfB Stuttgart with strong saves.
Not only for Knappenschmiede director Matthias Schober is Podlech one of Germany’s greatest goalkeeping talents. It is not for nothing that those responsible recently signed him to a contract until 2025. It would also be conceivable to bring him up. With Faaris Yusufu, the U19s would still have another keeper in the squad who is almost as strong. Should Podlech actually be considered, history might repeat itself.
Because a certain Manuel Neuer also slipped into this role abruptly a long time ago as U19 goalkeeper due to an injury. Back then, during school lessons, he had received a call that he should play for the U23s in the evening. “From the school toilet to the regional league goal” was the headline of RevierSport at the time about Neuer’s first assignment. However, the young Neuer only helped out once before returning to the U19s.
However, this scenario is not likely anyway. It is more likely that Podlech will continue to mature under Elgert.