Huntelaar backed to make Ibrahimovic impact at Schalke

The veteran Dutch striker has followed in Zlatan’s footsteps by re-signing for an old club in a difficult moment.

Klaas-Jan Huntelaar has been compared to Zlatan Ibrahimovic by former teammate Youri Mulder, who thinks the striker can help Schalke avoid relegation.

The 37-year-old has re-signed for Schalke on a contract until the end of the season from Ajax. After a three-and-a-half-year absence, ‘The Hunter’ is eager to take the club out of their rut in a similar fashion to what Zlatan has done at AC Milan.

The task at hand, however, is nothing easy. Schalke are rock bottom in the Bundesliga standings, five points adrift of a relegation playoff spot and seven points from safety. They’ve also won just once in 16 games.

“Besides the minor calf injury that was last bothering him, he has looked very fit lately,” Mulder, who used to play alongside Huntelaar at the Veltins-Arena, told Goal and SPOX.

“He almost looked like Zlatan Ibrahimovic! Very well trained, extremely ambitious, appeared in the games with an incredible will and above all he looked as fit as a sneaker.

“Physically I don’t see any problems with him.”

Quizzed on whether Huntelaar can help Schalke avoid relegation, Mulder replied: “Yes, I think so.

“Any help can currently be used. If you look at statistics, Schalke is much better in terms of goal opportunities than goals scored. This shows that they have a need for the attack.

“I’ve seen Huntelaar many times over the past year and he scored very well. Seven goals in 383 minutes [in the Eredivisie] speak for themselves. Of course, it’s a weaker league, but he knows the Bundesliga very well and his goal risk is still undisputed.”

Huntelaar is Schalke’s second-highest goalscorer of all-time on 126 goals in 240 appearances. He’s also the second former player to return to the Royal Blues in January following Sead Kolasinac’s loan move from Arsenal.