10 Football Players Who Were Nearly One Club Men
9. Benedikt Howedes
Benedikt Höwedes' time at Schalke was unfortunately plagued with a lot of narrowly-missed chances.
The German centre back was a mainstay during Schalke's most fruitful period of the 21st Century. With the Haltern-born defender in the side, they finished as Bundesliga runner-up on three occasions as well as winning a DFB-Pokal and the club's first-ever DFL-Supercup.
Höwedes also played every single minute available at the 2014 World Cup as Die Mannschaft lifted the title.
With 335 total appearances for the club across his 17 years at the club, he currently has the 9th highest total appearances in Schalke's history.
Capable of playing across the entire back-line, the versatile defender saw his most fruitful season in 2009/10 as he scored 6 goals in all competitions.
Unfortunately, Höwedes endured a torrid final season with Schalke, finishing 10th - the club's second-lowest finish since 2000 - before he moved to Juventus for a forgettable loan spell in 2017/18.
Funnily enough, although he only made three appearances for the Bianconeri, he won as many pieces of silverware in Italy as he did during his entire tenure with Schalke.
He ended his long association with Die Königsblauen permanently in 2018 when he joined Lokomotiv Moscow at the end of his contract.