Amine Harit is back at FC Schalke 04 - and inspires his new coach Frank Kramer. He can actually make good use of the gifted creative player. But he also knows that the 25-year-old is far too expensive to maintain and should therefore be sold as soon as possible.
When Frank Kramer watches his footballer Amine Harit at work, the new FC Schalke 04 coach is as happy as a little child. "My heart beats when I see a footballer like that. It's great that there's still a street footballer like that. I'm happy to be able to watch him." But that joy is a problem. Because the Moroccan should, no, he actually has to leave the traditional club. The equally banal and bitter reason: the Gelsenkircheners simply cannot afford the playmaker's salary. The midfielder is expected to earn around five million euros in Gelsenkirchen (gross) per year.
In addition, Schalke themselves do not know what they have in Harit. A tremendous talent, if you can still say that for a 25-year-old, of course, but also a "gambler" whose gigantic form fluctuations have driven the club and its numerous coaches to the brink of despair. Harit once played so well for the Royal Blues that even the great Ruhrpott rival Borussia Dortmund was said to be interested. But he also had games, weeks, months in which he hid himself. In which he did things that his club would not tolerate. He was temporarily suspended in the 2020/21 Schalke horror season.
When the Gelsenkircheners laboriously rose from the rubble of their failure last season, Harit was no longer part of the group. He was loaned to Olympique Marseille. And found there again in a reasonable form. The French are even said to have been interested in converting the loan into a purchase. But that seems to have cooled down now. The club's new coach is said to favor other players. Galatasaray is different. According to Sky, talks are apparently underway with the big Turkish club. Gala is said to offer a fee of five million euros, but only wants to pay in installments over three years. Is Schalke enough? Recently there was also speculation about a departure to FC Porto. According to the portal fussballtransfers.com, Trabzonspor and the Spanish clubs FC Sevilla and FC Villarreal are also possible addresses.
Another scenario seems possible for the time being. At least for Coach Kramer. Harit stays a little longer, plays for Schalke, increases his market value at best - and is then sold shortly before the end of the transfer phase. Problem here: Harit is said to have anchored very high casserole and point bonuses in his contract. So it's very complicated. Just not from the coach's point of view. “Everyone here knows the situation – but until the case occurs and he goes, we have to keep him in good shape. The economic conditions don’t get worse when he’s on the slopes and performing. On the contrary,” said Kramer just now "WAZ".
Sports director Rouven Schröder emphasized again during the training camp that some players must be handed over for the squad conversion this summer. The financial need is still great for the Royal Blues. "I'm a realist. We know what's possible - and we know what's not possible," emphasized Kramer in Austria. Despite all the fascination for the skills of the footballer, who caused a fatal accident in his home country shortly after leaving the World Cup in summer 2018 and then fought his way back to professional football with difficulty. At the beginning of the 2019/2020 season, he celebrated a furious comeback and enchanted Schalke until the beginning of 2020 when the crash began - for the Royal Blues and for the Moroccan.
Harit saw the birth of his daughter Alijah in May and the support of coach Wagner as the reasons for the amazing change at the start of the season. "He gives me a lot of confidence. And when you have a baby, you have more responsibility. That changes the perspective." He also worked through the events surrounding the fatal traffic accident a year ago in his home country. "Now my mind is clear, focused and I work a lot. That's the reward." The high didn't last long, Harit built, his team crashed.
How good Harit can do for his team's game, he once proved in the training camp in Mittersill. In the test match against league rivals FC Augsburg (1-1), he was one of the most conspicuous footballers in his team and played for Sebastian Polter to equalize. It is quite possible that it was the beginning of a short success interlude. The promoted team's first competitive games are on July 31st in the DFB-Pokal at Bremer SV and on August 7th at 1. FC Köln for the start of the Bundesliga. Harit played his last competitive game for the Knappen on May 22, 2021, Schalke’s last Bundesliga game to date (0-1 at 1. FC Köln).
