Nick Taitague at Schalke

Or he could be moving on from Schalke (a response to that tweet from the same guy)

“You'll have to ask Nick about a future at Schalke or if he's taking a different road. My understanding right now is that it's not 100% decided yet. But like I said, you have to ask Nick. USMNT definitely part of his soccer journey down the road ”

Personally no idea either way but I am not sure that the tweet means what you think it means.

 

I just thought it meant Nick was too old for the U19s next year. I don’t know if that means first team, U23s, loan, or transfer, but I don’t think the tweet implies any of those things.

 

Maybe he’s realizing that his road to the first team is going to be very difficult there. Getting a few minutes here and there and getting consistent minutes are two different things and maybe he thinks his future is better served if he moved to a lesser club.

Tbh, I’d almost prefer that. Consistent minutes for American attackers are hard to come by. Schalke’s going to have high hopes next season and may be spending some money this summer.

Obviously, he could just go out on loan. That might be good for him, too. Either way, I just want him playing first team minutes and not stuck with the U23s.

 

But has his dad made any vague, "coach speak" type statements from which we can conclusively determine what will happen?

 

1007421542706434048 is not a valid tweet id

I know a lot of his haven't seen him play so I made a video with some of his highlights. I did a pretty extensive search and it was tough to find full games of the U-19s so sorry about that.

 

@Johnnybegood10 Any news on Nick's plans for the upcoming season?

 

Nothing good to report as of now when it comes to Taitague.

Translated part from the article.
Seven players from the U19 will definitely make the China trip with the pros from next week: Lennart Czyborra, Niklas Wiemann (both defense), Jannis Kübler, Nassim Boujellab, Benjamin Goller (all midfield), Florian Kruger and Ahmed Kutucu (both attack). For Knäbel, it is crucial that the talents in their respective teams have intercessors with the coaches who stand up for them. With professional boss Domenico Tedesco there is no problem.
https://www.waz.de/sport/fussball/s...ne-auf-schalke-fuer-moeglich-id214716177.html

seems official, as the whole thing is about Schalke's technical director, Peter Knabel discussing Schalke's youth dev, transition to the pros and their U23 etc.

and this one has the same thing above about the 7 Schalke U19 players but with an added part.
This was announced by sporting director Christian Heidel at a press conference on Thursday.
https://www.media-sportservice.de/2018/06/28/fc-schalke-04-sieben-u-19-talente-mit-nach-china/

so now the question is Nick still injured? Which if is the case that's a wasted opportunity on his part. As that China trip is a good opportunity to get promoted. Or is he leaving Schalke?

recently TM, had him as moving to Schalke II/U23. Although they seem to sometimes put players in unknown or moving to the reserves when they later on change.

 

Well he flew back to Germany a few days ago according to an expired instagram story. So unless he went to pack up his belongings, I imagine he is back in Gelsenkirchen

 

but the question is he unfit? If he is fit, that's not a good thing that he's not making the preseason tour with the 1st team. If he's injured he's still missing out. At the end of the day, doesn't seem to be benefit in either scenario. His constant injuries seems to have cost him.

guys who missed out on the China tour. Fleckstein and Weiner who moved to Kiel for 3 years although Schalke have a buyback option on both guys. Jason Ceka (not injured) is another guy who isn't there and Nick Taitague seems to be the other guy.

there are some German sites, that have Schalke U23, new additions for next season. Taitague is on that list. With some of those 7 guys too but they get their chances to impress. Although 3 of the 7 are not in any reserves list and even TM has their movements as unknown.

 

Speculation: That tweet combined with the latest updates may well suggest that the decision is between Schalke II and somewhere else, as in right now there doesn’t seem to be a Mckennie like path to the first team.

 

One decent option might be a sale to a 2.Bundesliga club with a buyback option, like what McKinze Gaines did. (Hopefully, though, Taitague would actually find his way onto the field in this scenario!)

Needless to say, there's a big, big gap between the Bundesliga and the fifth-tier Oberliga where Schalke II play. And a standard loan is risky for several reasons, but particularly because Taitague seems to be injury-prone which could make it easier for him to fall by the wayside. A sale with a buyback gives the receiving team a nice financial incentive and makes them a stakeholder in the player's long-term development.

 

End of last season I got the impression that he is looking for a new challenge with a different club. But I may be wrong and he could pop up in the second team with the #Under23 squad like Haji is supposed to. We'll see

— Volker Barth (@barthvolker) July 1, 2018

Looks like Schalkamerica is slowly starting to fade away

 

Zyen Jones should be with the U19 team this year.

 

If Kutucu stays in the U19 next season since he's eligible he could end up blocking Jones. Schalke and even it's fans are high on Kutucu. Attracted interest all over Europe so Schalke extended his contract awhile ago. Don't see Schalke promoting 2 attacking players as in forwards in the same age groups, especially not since the past strikers in their respective age groups have yet to impress at pro level.

 

If I'm reading this correctly, he's stating that Nick's joining the U23s using TM as a source. If I remember correctly, I think we weren't sure if TM just puts any ineligible U19 player here or not.

 

I think it's like this,

guys with expiring contracts are put as "unknown" and guys who have time remaining are moved to the reserves if nothing is official. Schalke have said that from the 7 players in China, they will decide which ones will be in the 1st team, Schalke II and ones who are loaned out or allowed to join another club.

TM has 6/7 in China as moving to Schalke II and has had them in Schalke II for awhile although, officially nothing is known about player movements as they haven't decided yet.

 

🚨Update on Nick Taitague, an inside source has told me Nick is currently with the u23s to rehab the hamstring injury he suffered at the end of last season. Once healthy, he will be with Schalke’s 1st team this preseason, if he impresses then he’ll stay, if not he’ll go on loan pic.twitter.com/QKxQrD0HKa

— Bundimericans (@bundimericans) July 6, 2018

Who knows how reliable this is but.

 

Can confirm that it's plausible.

 

‘99 US U20 & @s04 attacker Nick Taitague will join up with first team when cleared to in 2 weeks. Taitague is a key piece of Tab Ramos’ U20 squad, however getting his release will be difficult #usynt pic.twitter.com/yBfMTU4Qd6

— Joey (@USAprospects) July 7, 2018

I'd pretty much say it's confirmed now.

 

Ugh. Such a good player and I wish him all the success in the world but a teenager whose biggest wish is to stay healthy all season is an awful sign. I hate it but I’m really down on his career trajectory for this reason.

 

I still believe in him.