Bundesliga side Schalke are trying to convince Newcastle United to extend midfielder Nabil Bentaleb’s loan spell at the club by another month.
That’s according to Ruhr Nachrichten, who cover the midfielder’s future as part of their look at the state of the German club this summer.
The Bundesliga side are currently in a horrendous run of form that has seen them go without a win in their last 13 games in all competitions.
That has heaped the pressure on manager David Wagner, who, while having the backing of director of football Jochen Schneider, could be sacked if their ‘negative trend’ is not turned around by the end of the season.
That would heavily impact the club’s plans for the summer transfer window, with a new coach likely to head in a different direction than that of the former Huddersfield boss.
Schalke have already been planning ahead, and part of this has been dealing with the various loans current to and from the club.
One of those is Bentaleb, who joined Newcastle on loan until the end of the season in the January transfer window.
The Magpies have an option to turn the move into a permanent one should they wish but that seems unlikely given the midfielder has managed just six appearances and 542 minutes of football since his arrival.
He’s set to return to Schalke next month, but they are trying to convince Newcastle to extend his loan for another month into August.
It’s not made clear why that’s the case, although it is fairly safe to assume they are hoping he can make an impression and earn them some money.
Schalke have made it clear they don’t want him, and perhaps they hope that he can feature more prominently until the end of the Premier League season and convince Newcastle to splash out on a permanent deal.
