SportBild report they’ve had it ‘confirmed’ to them that Max Meyer to Crystal Palace is a real thing.
The German club won’t get a transfer fee but are set to receive around €500k in training compensation and, in the grand Schalke tradition, have told the media.
Meyer’s potential move to Crystal Palace is subsequently receiving some stick.
Take this from Bild: ‘Now the “world-class player” Max Meyer, as his agent Roger Wittmann (58) described him in a Sky interview, lands at Crystal Palace. Instead of Champions League with Schalke now a threatened relegation battle in England.
‘If Meyer’s change happens, his most famous teammates in the future are called Mamadou Sakho (28/28 internationals for France) and Belgium striker Christian Benteke (27/34 internationals).’
Kicker say they’ve been informed (we can all guess by who) that Crystal Palace have contacted Schalke via email, presumably to talk about the compensation. They add he’s not moving to a ‘top club’ despite his agent’s hopes, and that Palace ‘haven’t won a title in their 113-year history’.
Fussball Transfers add their thoughts: ‘In the end, the Meyer camp along with advisor Roger Wittmann have really gambled. Instead of the Champions League with Schalke, it means mediocrity on the island in the future.’
The ‘Schalke Slackers’ were named as Nabil Bentaleb, Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, Baba Rahman, Leon Goretzka, Klaas jan Huntelaar, Breel Embolo, Max Meyer and Franco Di Santo.
In September 2016, Bild wrote about 21 year old Meyer: ‘Our silver hero from Rio is losing his regular place. Therefore, he acts as if he is playing in insult mode.’
Leon Goretzka, who was also 21, got: ‘The U21 international seems to have won the praise of national coach Jogi Löw (56, “I’m a huge fan!”). His current achievements cannot inspire anyone.’
This wasn’t a one off, there was someone at Schalke clearly desperate to push blame towards the players for the horrid start.
The two players bounced back somewhat, and both have left on a free this summer which tells a story in itself. When it became clear Meyer wouldn’t renew, the character assassination seemed to increase.
He was a money grabber, big headed. It got to the point that Meyer not securing a club earlier this summer was met with glee, and clearly made some in the German media happy.
There was no messing with Goretzka, because Bayern Munich, the club he’d signed a pre-contract for as soon as possible, would have come down hard.
The portrayal of Meyer will have very likely had some impact on clubs being interested, which is perhaps some kind of revenge.
Hopefully, should Max Meyer complete his Crystal Palace move, he can kick on away from the Schalke media machine.
