Maximilian Meyer enjoyed another successful season last campaign and helped Schalke 04 land themselves a Europa League spot after narrowly missing out on the Champions League place.
With the new season on the horizon, GGFN take a look at another Schalke product who is destined for greatness, Maximilian Meyer, who transferred to Schalke’s youth set-up up in 2009.
Schalke’s well known Knappenschmiede has produced some of the finest talents in the world in recent years, including Manuel Neuer, Mesut Özil and Julian Draxler. All three players started their footballing careers with the Gelsenkirchen side and are now regarded amongst the worlds best.
Although Meyer has not just made a breakthrough, and is in fact quite an established player in the German U21s, next season could be massive for himself as the club looks to get themselves in the Champions League places.
Meyer is already being spoken massively about, with German experts suggesting he is the best talent ever to come out of the famous academy, and at just 20-years-old, his superlative displays prove why.
At a tender age, Meyer has already scored 16 goals in 95 Bundesliga appearances which is majestic for someone so young and early on in his career.
Meyer has caught the eye of most around Europe and is sought as one of the best talents in club football. ‘Mini-Max’ possesses prodigious dribbling abilities with supreme balance at a very high speed.
Standing at 5ft 8″ he often uses his height to his advantage, gathering a fast low centre of gravity in his stride allowing him to beat his defender.
His maturity for a player of his age is admirable. The playmaker has acute awareness of surroundings in his game and that often is a trait carried by the best number 10s. His awareness to pick out his team-mates and play pin point passes is quite unique for someone so premature.
Players of his style of course can become very obvious, but being a lean weight he is able to shift his balance and swiftly change direction in his dribbling to dazzle defenders, leading them the opposite way.
Close control and confident on the ball with both feet has saw Meyer take the Bundesliga by storm, becoming one of the most creative players in the league in past seasons, predominately playing as a central attacking midfielder (well known as the number 10 role) behind the striker, using his tremendous skills to carve out chances for himself and his teammates frequently.
Meyer was once again influential last season, the creative star created 1.75 chances per 90 last season which is simply sublime although he didn’t bag himself loads of assists, managing just 0.23 leaving the conversion rate considerably low.
As mentioned, he is a very fluent attacking player oozing special flair in his style, his defensive contribution can become a worry, although he will not be demanded to track back and win tackles.
The future is bright for Meyer, the young German has a €25.5 million release clause in his contract, and if he keeps on progressing at an impeccable pace, it’s only a matter of time before the Europe’s elite come calling.
