Schalke 04 have too few fast players. That’s why an ex-coach of Andreas Ivan is now calling for the Romanian from the U23 to be used in S04’s Bundesliga team.
Rot Weiss Ahlen scored an important point in the relegation battle against FC Schalke 04’s U23 on Saturday. Afterwards, Ahlen’s coach Andreas Zimmermann mourned his ex-striker Andreas Ivan – and called on the Königsblauen officials to bring the Romanian to the Bundesliga.
“Andy Ivan has to go up. Very clear story,” Zimmermann said after the game at the Parkstadion. If it were up to him, the 27-year-old would have to play in the arena a stone’s throw away and not in the U23. Because the striker has exactly what Schalke don’t have right now: extreme speed. “That’s what’s missing,” Zimmermann said. “I watched Schalke’s game against Hoffenheim on Friday. Andy Ivan has to go up with his speed. He should be up there by now. “
The globetrotter, who has also played for RB in New York, definitely has the quality for the Bundesliga, he said. “Just throw it in. You can’t do anything wrong with that. When you see the others … he can do it. He passes once and the bell rings.”
He cited Schalke U23’s game at Wuppertaler SV the previous week as an example. “Schalke is behind and he gets the ball once. Makes a one-on-one and then he welds the ball in. Then they beat Wuppertal 4:1,” said the Berlin native. Overall, however, Andreas Ivan’s record in the Regionalliga for S04 is still capable of improvement. He has scored three times in ten games so far.
Zimmermann would have liked to keep the former Romanian U21 international, whom the Knappen signed from Ahlen in the summer. But that was not possible. In the process, Ahlen had gone to his pain threshold and beyond. “Then it was all about money again. We made him an offer and went through the roof,” the 52-year-old revealed. “It was the best offer in the last umpteen years in Ahlen. And the advisor says: ‘Great, thanks, but he’s going to Schalke. To Schalke II, not abroad or anywhere else. Then we know what spheres we are talking about.”
So if it were up to Andreas Zimmermann, Ivan should soon show his skills in the Bundesliga.