Schalke will be without Andreas Vindheim for “several weeks”, the club announced on Monday. With Mehmet Aydin also currently unavailable, the Königsblauen now have a shortage of personnel on their right wing.
Suddenly he was sitting on the pitch not far from the coaching areas. And it quickly became clear: Andreas Vindheim would have to leave the pitch after less than eight minutes, with Reinhold Ranftl continuing in his place against Jahn Regensburg (2:1). Schalke 04 announced more details on Monday. According to the statement, the injury was “a muscle injury in the left calf”. Vindheim, who already had calf problems before kick-off, will now be “out for several weeks”.
The Norwegian, who was only loaned from Sparta Prague in the winter, had already shown on his debut in Aue, Spieltags. The reasoning at the time: “Good eye and passing, outstanding speed and scorer of the 2:0; shone as an assist for the 4:0 and enabler for the 1:0 and 5:0.” It all looked as if Schalke now had a similarly capable player on their right wing in the second half of the season as they had with Thomas Ouwejan on the left.
All of the players on the right wing are now available to Schalke.
Aydin is also out: Personnel bottleneck on the right wing
Vindheim’s absence creates a personnel bottleneck. Mehmet Aydin is also currently unavailable due to injury, so Ranftl has to step into the breach again. The summer signing (contract until 2024) has had problems finding his place so far. After four anything but exhilarating appearances in the first five games of the season, the 30-year-old has yet to show any consistency, and even after his substitution against Regensburg, Ranftl’s performance was less than convincing.
The fight for promotion is coming to a head, Schalke 04 can use every performance explosion. Perhaps Ranftl will succeed next weekend, when the Gelsenkirchen team plays host to Fortuna Düsseldorf.
