Dortmund also interested: https://www.si.com/soccer/mancheste...anchester-city-borussia-dortmund-zack-steffen
Both BVB's and Schalke 04's goalkeeping situations are exploitable. Though Schalke 04's path to a starting job strikes me as at least being a little more straightforward.
Sounds like this is saying Schalke have identified Steffen and Norwich City's Tim Krul as possible replacements for Nubel, that Schalke might take Steffen on loan, because they're unwilling to pay a substantial sum for a goalkeeper, and that the two holdups are that Dusseldorf are trying to keep him for another season, and that Manchester City might need him if Ederson departs because of the European ban.
Interesting article. I see that KALM already hit on most of the tidbits regarding Steffen. I'll only add that the article implied that Schalke was initially hinting that they felt they had capable keepers already in house with Schubert (who actually replaced the benched Nübel) and Fährmann (who is going on loan for the rest of the season).
Manchester City intend to take Zack Steffen back to the Etihad in the summer.City have informed Fortuna, with Pep Guardiola planning to ‘give up’ Claudio Bravo and instil Steffen as back up to Ederson.[@kicker_bl_li via @Sport_Witness] pic.twitter.com/xENR2o7OnU— City Xtra (@City_Xtra) March 19, 2020
Yeah, that's the million dollar question. Maybe someone who follows City more closely can say more about how they tend to use their backup, but looking at Transfermarkt, Bravo played 16 games this year, 4 in the league and 12 in various cups (including 2 in UCL)...which doesn't seem like a horrible situation as far as being a backup goes. But maybe there will be less opportunity if their UCL ban stays in place. I'd still favor him going to a mid-tier Bundesliga/EPL club as the presumptive starter, but I doubt anyone offers City enough money to change their mind if they've already decided he's their backup.
Crazy, because teams and leagues may have to give up cup competitions so on a big team like City, there may actually be fewer games to go around
Steffen's in a relatively good spot right now, resting his knee and making bank. A season at City - training at a high level but playing only occasionally - wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.
But not as good as a season establishing himself as the #1 at good (by historical standards) BL club like Dortmund or Schalke. Anyway, not our call.
Could be posturing on City's part to get a really favorable loan deal, knowing he is in demand in the Bundesliga. But it could be with all the stop in play, City don't really have time to scout for a backup. Sometimes clubs really like to see how someone is playing the last three months before a deal. Who knows though? There are worst places for him to land. Pretty meteoric rise for the kid.
I suspect it is posturing. I mean, I don't doubt that they see Steffen as a backup next year but I also know backups are easy to get and if they can make some coin by flipping him this summer, the more they seem to want him, the more coin they can make.
I think Steffen’s passing issues are overblown, see the link below. He’s 6th in the Bundesliga in long passing completion. His blunders against Venezuela and Mexico were bad, yes, but they occurred because he actually tries to play it out of the back, whereas we’re just used to our keepers hoofing it up the field historically. https://statsbomb.com/2020/02/no-pulisic-no-problem-checking-in-on-the-bundesligas-american-talent/
The other thing I've noticed is that when he plays with Duesseldorf, they want to play out of the back, but they're also pragmatic and seemingly given license to just hoof it when things get dicey. With the USMNT, it seems like Steffen is under strict orders to NEVER just hoof it, which leads to a keeper trying to squeeze passes into covered players like he's a #10, with predictable results.
A year training and improving on how, when and where to pass out of the back with the master of that wouldn't be so bad. After that he'd need to start somewhere again.