An attacking player from Schalke’s U23s is surprisingly training with the second division players. In addition to Terodde, two other professionals were missing.

The celebrated 3:1 win against FC St. Pauli is now a thing of the past for Schalke 04, and coach Karel Geraerts’ team have long since turned their attention to their next opponents. On Saturday (1 p.m./Sky), another home game against in-form SC Paderborn is on the agenda.

However, Schalke had to do without three professionals on Tuesday in preparation for the promotion hopefuls: Dominick Drexler was absent due to illness, Thomas Ouwejan and Simon Terodde each only got on their bikes and trained individually for reasons of load management. Kenan Karaman, however, was back on the pitch after cutting back on Monday. Nothing stands in the way of the top scorer playing against Paderborn.

Marouane Balouk was given the opportunity to show off his skills with the professionals in order to replenish the already ample training squad. The 21-year-old Belgian is an attacking midfielder and normally plays for the Royal Blues’ U23 team. However, he is not a regular in coach Jakob Fimpel’s regional league team. Balouk has appeared in eleven of 23 fourth division matches (one goal).

Why was Balouk still allowed to play for the professionals? “We needed a player who could keep up with intensive training,” explained licensed player manager Gerald Asamoah. “Balouk hasn’t played that much in the U23s recently and was often only substituted, which is why he’s with us. Professional training is an opportunity for every player from the U23s. “

Several players have already proven this season that players from the U23s can make the leap to the pros. Right-back Steven van der Sloot (21), midfielder Jimmy Kaparos (22) and striker Niklas Castelle (21) have been training regularly with the second division team. The trio already traveled with the professionals to the winter training camp and played in several test matches under coach Karel Geraerts.

One of them, Niklas Castelle, also made his professional debut this year. The striker came on as a substitute in the closing stages of the 2-0 defeat to Hamburger SV in the second half of the season