Christoph Metzelder; one of Schalke 04 main defender expressed his unhappiness in clear terms on the departure of Raul Gonzalez from the German club, he said he is disappointed at the striker’s decision to leave the club at the end of the season.
Metzelder could not hide his feelings as he spoke on hearing the news of the striker’s departure.
Raul Gonzalez, 34, on Thursday announced after rejecting the offer handed to him by Schalke 04 for an extension of contract and said he will be continuing his career outside of Europe and this news has not made the club management and other players happy as it was seen as a big blow to the plans laid down by the management of the club for the new season.
Metzelder said he believes that the Spaniard’s departure is a heavy blow for the club, but insisted that it will open the door for new players to prove their worth.
‘Raul has been looked at in Schalke 04 with great respect by other players coming up in the club and he will pass in the history of the club as someone who made a large contribution to the success of the club and he will be solely missed because of his quality of play on field ‘said Metzelder.
The former Spain international Raul, who joined Schalke in 2010
The Spanish footballer before deciding to leave Schlake 04 plays as a striker for the German Bundesliga club and has scored 20 goals in all competitions this season.
Raul spent most of his career playing for Spanish club Real Madrid and is the club’s all-time top goal scorer.
The Spaniard is a three-time winner of the UEFA Champions League and has long been the competition’s all-time leading goal scorer.
He left Real Madrid on 25 July 2010, having scored 323 goals in 741 appearances to join Schalke 04
With Real Madrid, he has won several honours, including further La Liga titles in 1996–97 (scoring 21 La Liga goals), 2000–01 (scoring 24 La Liga goals), and 2002–03 (scoring 16 La Liga goals in a campaign truncated by a bout of appendicitis).
From 1998 to 2002, Raúl and Real Madrid also won three UEFA Champions League trophies in 1998, 2000, and 2002. For most of this time, Raúl struck up a prolific scoring partnership with Fernando Morientes and later Ronaldo.
Raúl took over the captaincy of Real Madrid when Fernando Hierro was transferred in 2003, a responsibility he held until leaving the club in 2010.
Despite appearing in two finals, in 2002 (in which he scored) and 2004, Raúl never lifted the Copa Del Rey.
