from the few matches I saw of him in 2BL last season. He didn't have good work rate, his game was very lacking too and he mostly didn't contribute much. Those were the games towards the end before he stopped making any matchday squads. And mentally he never seemed there. Fastforward over half a year later and he's still struggling to impress. The jump from U19 to either 1BL or 2BL is not for everyone. It's why some players willingly go to 3rd Liga or RL for a year or 2 before making their way upwards. but yeah his Schalke future with a 2020 contract seems highly unlikely. They currently have 7 players who can play CF and you have to take into account transfers and guys from U19/youth levels.
I can't find the article right now, but Tab definitely made comments once or twice last cycle that made it pretty obvious that he didn't rate Wright above the forwards he actually called up. By the time crunch time rolled around and Ramos was trying to secure releases, the business with Schalke was all about McKennie and Taitague.
Guy needs to find his way to AZ Alkmaar. They seem to have a knack of getting our strikers to produce.
That is painful. You can 'failed to make an impact' due to bad lucks, or a lack of talents. But at least you can make yourself 'visible' by hustling for loose balls and runing your asses off. These are things that you can actually 'control'.
And in this case "barely" actually means "never". I think there were ~12 camps and Wright was present at exactly zero of them. McKennie made it to two, as well as to three U19 camps early in the cycle. Wright did get one U19 call, but that was it.
maybe hustling his ass of isnt his game. there have been plenty of successful forwards in the world who havent been great defensively or high-motor types....who seem lazy but are clinical finishers when the time comes and have great careers. that style doesnt seem to bode well for usmnt....or for union berlin (which is perhaps why a player like bobby wood who does hustle fit well with them) maybe he needs to find a team that doesnt expect their forwards to play like headless chickens? or maybe he has an attitude problem and thinks he is better than he is....and that lower leagues are beneath him so he doesnt try (which would be unfortunate) time will tell.
Well if you're not gonna put some hustle into it as a striker, better be more like Berbatov than not.
This. Unfortunately the number of guys with his sheer skill are few and far between. Berbatov was an absurd joy to watch. Nothing Wright's done should make anyone think he's got a similar game.
It's a very bad sign. A loan is/suggests "my club wants me, even if it's only to see whether I could turn out to have a future with them, at their level or at a level below - which means a transfer fee for them." A trial is/means "my club doesn't see me as having a future at their level or the next one down, so they aren't even looking for a nominal transfer fee. It's vaya con dios for me."
He ruined the striker position for me as he's my baseline. Many of the game's top strikers can't touch his skill.
@jond Do you know of a good Berbatov youtube compilation? He was my first soccer love and I totally feel the need to revisit now that you've shared those clips.
Nick #Taitague & Haji #Wright together at Thursday's second team/Under23 practice session. Very uncomfortable temperatures at the moment here in Germany, reminds me of Texas #S04 #Schalke #U23 #Oberliga #Westphalia #TeamUSA #soccer #USsoccer #USMNT pic.twitter.com/567adD5BFK— Volker Barth (@barthvolker) July 26, 2018
actually played a Schalke II friendly yesterday. Schalke II won 5-1. Wright only played the 1st half but didn't score nor assist either. Game was 3-0 HT. The other attacker Avdijaj also only played the 1st half and had a brace in the game as well as an assist. Hand in all the goals in the 1st half. some moments where he's mentioned. 4 minutes: A good chance! Philip Fontein crosses at Wright, who misses just past the gate. 22nd. Minute: A good combination: Jonas Carls brings the ball to Avdijaj, who gives to Wright. But the striker missed the gate.
along with Nick seems to be part of Schalke II. https://schalke04.de/knappenschmiede/mannschaften/uebergangsbereich/u23/kader/
Scored in a friendly against the Utrecht reserves: Die #U23 gewinnt das fünfte Testspiel der Vorbereitung gg. die Zweitvertretung des @fcutrecht mit 3:1. 👌 Tore: #Wright, #Grinbergs und #Firat.— Knappenschmiede (@knappenschmiede) July 31, 2018
He wasn’t even lazy. To me that was just a label English fans gave to him because he didn’t run around screaming all the time. He just saw the game a bit faster than everybody else and his skill was sublime
He was thought of being a player with lots of upside, it didn't work out and instead of bouncing around in MLS he went abroad and two teams later he is playing 1st team ball.
Starts: Das ist die Start-11 der #U23 gg. Westfalia Herne! Auf geht's, Jungs! 🔵⚪ #schmiede #s04 pic.twitter.com/4isBbriACa— Knappenschmiede (@knappenschmiede) August 11, 2018