Bremen's loss is Schalke's gain
Tuesday, October 7, 2003
Article summary
SV Werder Bremen's star striker Ailton has agreed to follow Mladen Krstajic to FC Schalke 04 next summer.
Article body
Krstajic coup
Yesterday, Bremen's Serbo-Montenegrin international defender Mladen Krstajic agreed to join Schalke on a free transfer in the summer.
Ailton compounds blow
Today, the club's Brazilian striker Ailton compounded that blow by signing a deal with Schalke that will see him move to Gelsenkirchen on a two-year contract at the end of the season. To salt the wound, Bremen will receive a fee for neither player, as both are out of contract in the summer.
Scoring credentials
Ailton leads the Bundesliga scoring charts with seven goals, and he has scored 67 times in 144 appearances since joining Bremen in October 1998. Not surprisingly, the Schalke manager Rudi Assauer was delighted to have landed a player "who fits into the profile we are looking for".
Option of an extension
Ailton, 30, will have the option of a third year with Schalke when he swaps the Weserstadion for the AufSchalke Arena in June 2004.
No new contract
Meanwhile, Krstajic has secured a four-year deal with Bremen's Bundesliga rivals. The 29-year-old centre-back arrived at Bremen from FK Partizan in 2000 but could not be tempted to prolong his stay. "We went close to the limit with our offer [of a new contract]," said Bremen's sporting director Klaus Allofs. "But Schalke can obviously pay very different salaries to ours."
