Football Season Guide

Despite a massive dip in form half way through the season Schalke managed to finish the season well and secure fourth spot on the final day of the season. They will want to make sure of qualification to the group stage of the Champions League and this will be hugely important for their season. They have made some good purchases during the summer to strengthen their squad although many just add depth to the team rather than players who will be regular starters. Felipe Santana and Adam Szalai will be in and around the team while Anthony Annan and Sergio Escudero will also be decent additions to the squad. Perhaps their most important signing is young German midfielder who they bought from local team Bochum and he looks set to develop in a very solid player. Some fringe players have left the club such as Christoph Metzelder and Jose Jurado as Jens Keller looks to cut down his team going into the new season. Ibrahim Afellay had a decent season on loan but now returns to Spain and Michel Bastos has been released after causing too many problems within the team. They are probably not quite consistent enough over a whole season to challenge for the title but they can still improve their league position by securing third place a guaranteed Champions League group stage place.