Kenan Karaman did not score in the nevernot Cup in Meppen on Saturday. Nevertheless, his coach Karel Geraerts went into raptures

On Friday, FC Schalke 04 announced the extension of Kenan Karaman’s contract. Last season’s top scorer has extended his contract with the Royal Blues until 2028.

On Saturday at the blitz tournament in Meppen, Schalke’s top scorer came away empty-handed. But together with Moussa Sylla and Amin Younes, the 30-year-old is set to lead the way in terms of attacking play in the coming season and in the years to come.

For Schalke coach Karel Geraerts, the extension was therefore a very important building block in his concept. “That was great news for me, for the team and for the entire club,” said Geraerts after the nevernot Cup matches in Meppen.

It was important to keep the Stuttgart native, especially after the departures of Simon Terodde and Keke Topp. “He is a very important player for us in the dressing room and on the pitch at the weekend.” His extension was “great news” for Geraerts. He had spoken to Karaman twice beforehand

“Schalke: Lightning tournament in Meppen July 06, 2024” src=“https://forecasting-sports.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/1.167_norm-1.jpg” width=“680” height=“438” /☻

Karaman joined the Royal Blues from Besiktas Istanbul in 2022. After relegation in the summer of 2023, he had already said that he did not want to leave but wanted to help Schalke return to the 1st Bundesliga.

That didn’t work out, of course. But the former Turkish international was Schalke’s most successful player with 13 goals and nine assists and, alongside goalkeeper Marius Müller, also the most stable player. He also led the way when Schalke were in acute fear of relegation in the final third of the season.

Despite other offers, he decided to stay in Gelsenkirchen. If he had wanted to leave, Schalke would have had to sell him before this season in order to generate a transfer fee. Now he has four more years to get Schalke back into the Bundesliga