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Taitague joins Schalke’s first team as preseason camp begins

Nick Taitague has been given his latest opportunity to impress with Schalke’s first team.

The Bundesliga side kicked off preseason camp on Monday with Taitague included in David Wagner’s squad. Taitague, 21, trained with the first team on several occasions last season, but has yet to make his competitive debut.

Despite fighting through numerous injuries in 2019-20′, Taitague was rewarded with a new contact in February. His new deal runs until June 2021 with a club option to extend by two additional years.

The Virginia native made five appearances last season for Schalke II in the Regionalliga West Division. He was also included in Schalke’s winter midseason camp in Fuento Alamo, getting the chance to impress Wagner and his coaching staff.

“Nick joined the club as a huge talent, but has been unlucky with injuries over the past few years,” Schalke sporting director Jochen Schneider said back in February. “He’s now got another chance to establish himself in professional football. We believe in Nick and are glad to give him this chance.”

Internationally, Taitague has made 22 combined appearances five different U.S. Youth National Teams. He’s yet to debut for the U.S. Under-23 Men’s National Team, but remains an option for Jason Kreis’ side in the future.

Comments

  1. Subtle aspect to this is there was basically no offseason. If the next offseason is similar that would be happening during qualifying and gold cup and Olympics (assuming).

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  2. This guy Taitague has the talent, the problem is that he’s prone to injury very often. He has crystal legs I was told.

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    • Read someplace 5′ 8″ 140 lbs. He might naturally bulk up some with age. But yeah to me we have had pool players like Holden O’Brien Beasley who were scrawny and didn’t hold up well to constant banging. He looks like he plays wide which might help with some of the wear and tear. To me with that type if they play interior and take some hits they don’t have long careers. Holden started out in Houston as a winger and took off, and then got made into a central player and the injuries never ceased. To me a more stocky, Messi-type is better able to take all that central tackling.

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      • Btw, probably is the same that’s happening witn Pulisic. Those hamstrings injuries are very often and last forever. Hope not.

      • Holden’s career was essentially ended due to a brutal, studs up tackle when we played the friendly Vs. Holland before the WC. Was never the same again.
        Beasley had issues but seemed to be able to recovery fairly well. After all he was part of 3 WC teams.
        O’Brian was one that was truly made of glass. After the 2002 WC he just couldn’t stay healthy long enough to be relied upon for club or country.

        Size wise he’s not too different from Pulisic, Weah, & Uli…Schalke is sooooo bad that if he can get healthy he should have a chance to see 1st team minutes. If he can impress & stay healthy he could be an option for the USMNT.

      • LIS: my point would be a lot of those durable skinny guys are wide players or up top. My 2 cents I always thought Holden liked to work the ball side to side a lot, and liked to step over and turn, and sometimes that just leaves you a sitting duck. There wasn’t a vertical element where he ran at you — at least after he moved inside. As a Dynamo fan I thought both he and Cameron were mediocre interior players, all Cameron did was put his head down and run upfield, and all Holden did was look back outside. I thought he was a great winger and was lost why we forced that change.

    • The he’s to small narrative would make sense except their muscular issues not contact injuries. Look at Jozy he’s quite large by soccer standards and he has the same hamstring issues.

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