The story doesn’t need to be rewritten, just reinterpreted. Schalke’s last season, which left the players, fans and board baffled and cost the manager his job, actually helped them keep their captain. The curse of the good deed has at least spared the Ruhr club from losing their figurehead.
If Schalke had had a better season, Benedikt Höwedes would probably have left. But the World Cup winner is staying at his beloved Schalke, despite the release clause in his contract. The leader feels the responsibility. “I don’t see my mission here as finished,” said Höwedes in an interview with kicker. “And especially after this season we just had, I told myself that I don’t want to leave here as a face of that team.”
Offers from Arsenal and Milan
At the moment he can ponder calmly because he is relaxing. Höwedes is still suffering an ankle injury. The 27-year-old decided his future on holiday in Crete, still in a cast and walking with crutches. Big clubs from abroad wanted to sign him, including AC Milan and Arsenal. Fellow national team players Mesut Özil and Per Mertesacker, who were part of the World Cup celebrations last year in Rio with Höwedes, are already in London, along with Lukas Podolski who will probably return to Arsenal from Inter.
“It would’ve been a convenient time, no question,” said Höwedes. “You get to a stage in life when you want to move abroad for your own personal development, to get to know new structures and cultures. I’ll say it again; I do want the experience of playing abroad someday.”
Almost 15 years a Royal Blue
But that day hasn’t arrived, because Höwedes’ mission at Schalke isn’t over yet, his assignment still not complete. He’s been pulling on the Royal Blue’s kit for almost 15 years, winning the Junior Championship with the reserves and the DFB Cup with the first team. He succeeded Manuel Neuer as captain, a position which obliges him to play football not just for money but for the passion. He belongs to Schalke because of that.
Höwedes wants to make sure that the fire still burns at Schalke. “We need a team in which each individual accepts their role and works for the team,” demands the defender. “In the teams where I have achieved something, we were always greedy for success and had an extreme sense of team spirit. And that is exactly what the new coach wants to apply with us.”
Höwedes: “Breitenreiter has earnt his chance”
Benedikt Höwedes is relying on André Breitenreiter, and vice versa. Roberto di Matteo’s successor has met with his captain and instantly won him over. “I know that the coach is still early in his career, but his positive attitude and his enthusiasm for football and for Schalke has convinced me. His work at Paderborn produced good football and exemplary team spirit. He has absolutely earnt his chance and the necessary time,” said Höwedes.
Höwedes, who won the last of his 32 caps last March in a friendly against Australia in Kaiserslautern, plans to start training again in roughly two months. There is already a lot of work to do at Schalke, and the captain wants to set the agenda.
