FC Schalke 04

Benjamin Stambouli spent the free time this summer with his family, recharging his batteries. The 28-year-old is now raring go and take on the challenges that lie ahead. In an interview with schalke04.de, the Frenchman talked about the first few days back after the summer break, his holiday, his new teammate Ozan Kabak and the friendly in Oberhausen.

After scoring two goals in the opening friendly of the summer away against Rot-Weiß Oberhausen, Ahmed Kutucu has made an exceptional start to pre-season. However, the 19 year-old certainly doesn’t want to overvalue those goals. In an interview with schalke04.de, the young striker spoke about his first season as professional footballer, balancing football and school, new Royal Blues head coach David Wagner and helping old friend and new teammate Ozan Kabak settle into his new surroundings.

Mark Uth would have imagined a very different outcome to his first full season at FC Schalke 04. He missed more than a dozen games due to injury, but is currently working hard on his comeback. schalke04.com sat down with the 27-year-old to discuss his recovery, his impressions of the new coaching team and his personal goals for the new season.

Last season, Jonas Carls was a key player in the Royal Blues’ U23 side and can already smell the Bundesliga air. Just a few weeks ago the left-back was given a professional contract. In an interview with schalke04.de, the 22-year-old spoke about the jump from the Oberliga to the Bundesliga, his sporting journey up until now, tough competition within the Royal Blues youth teams and the aims for the coming months.

Despite a demanding pre-season, Omar Mascarell has had a smile on his face in every training session. Speaking to schalke04.de, the midfielder touched on his debut season in Royal Blue, his anticipation ahead of the new season, the focus during the training camp in Mittersill and looked ahead to the game against Villarreal CF.

Due to groin problems that have troubled him since the end of last season, Daniel Caligiuri has had to train individually during the pre-season. Now, the German-Italian midfielder is back with the team on the pitch. The 31-year-old spoke to schalke04.de about making his return against FC Bologna, how the opening goal came about and the hectic closing stages.

Nassim Boujellab successfully made the leap into the first team a few months ago. In an interview with schalke04.de, the midfielder spoke about his first few months as a professional, his favourite position, the support from Gerald Asamoah and Torsten Fröhling, as well as his new jersey number.

Together with Alexander Nübel, Suat Serdar took home a silver medal with Germany at the U21 European Championship. Following that, he went on holiday and recharged his batteries before making a planned late start into training. In an interview with schalke04.de, the midfielder spoke about the priorities in Mittersill, the loss in the finals against Spain, his first year in a Schalke jersey and the upcoming season.

The last few weeks have been quite eventful for Weston McKennie. The 20- year-old extended his contract and finished runner up at the Gold Cup after captaining the US national team in the final. In an interview with schalke04.de, the midfielder looks back on a busy summer and talks about the future.

Amine Harit has come through a tough period in his life. The 22-year-old is now highly motivated again and is looking to regain his form from his debut Bundesliga season. The Moroccan discussed learning German, his aims for the new season and what gives him strength off the pitch.