Last summer, Stefan Ortega was briefly an issue at Schalke 04. Apparently, the club and keeper were quite far – at least further than expected. The rejection of royal blue was probably also due to Frank Kramer.
A week or two before Schalke decided to loan Alexander Schwolow, the promoted player was linked to Stefan Ortega.
It would have been a very strong commitment from Royal Blue. Although Ortega was relegated with Bielefeld, there was no doubt about his class. However, at the time it was rather loose rumors – to which the goalkeeper also commented somewhat playfully and had not rejected.
The topic is now coming up again because Sky reporter Yannick Erkenbrecher on the Sky90 show, when Schalke was the topic, spoke about this starting position in the summer. “If my information is correct, Ortega could have been signed in the summer – that was all quite far with Schalke,” he introduced. Apparently the sticking point: Frank Kramer.
Erkenbrecher continued: “And then it was: No. Then Stefan Ortega said: ‘With the coach, that didn’t work in Bielefeld, I don’t want to do that again’.”
While the discussions on this topic, which was raised again, were getting bigger in the social networks, Dirk Große Schlarmann also got involved. The Sky reporter is primarily responsible for Schalke. He tweeted: “Um… we reported that exactly the same way back in the summer.” Underlaid with a winking smiley.
It seems that the S04 management decided against a transfer from Ortega, who would have been available on a free transfer, and for Kramer as the new coach. One is now playing for Manchester City, albeit as a substitute keeper, and the other has already been released.
Große Schlarmann later added “for classification”: “Ortega had several options, including S04, which he would have liked to have drawn. But nothing had been negotiated yet – Kramer certainly played a part in the decision. City only came after that!”
So it was not a decision by Ortega against S04 and for City, which would have been logical for financial reasons – but only one against Schalke. It seems like the coaching commitment was an important factor.
This article was originally published on 90min.com/de as Schalke was probably very far at Ortega – Cancellation because of Kramer? released.
