Max Meyer/import

Maximilian "Max" Meyer (born 18 September 1995) is a German footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Schalke 04 in the Bundesliga.

Contents

 * 1 Club career
 * 1.1 Early career
 * 1.2 2012–13
 * 1.3 2013–14
 * 2 International career
 * 2.1 Junior teams
 * 2.2 Senior team
 * 3 Style of play
 * 4 Career statistics
 * 5 References
 * 6 External links

Early career
Meyer left his hometown club Rot-Weiß Oberhausen to join MSV Duisburg in 2004 on a free transfer. Then in 2009 he transferred to FC Schalke 04's youth team. With the Schalke U-19 he won the 2011–12 German U-19 Championship against Bayern Munich with a 2–1 win in the final.[4]

In the 2011–12 season, he played 15 matches for Schalke's U-19. He scored 11 goals and made 11 assists. This made him the second top scorer in club behind Tammo Harder. Due to his good performance, Schalke's general manager, Horst Heldt, gave him a professional contract until 2015.[5]

2012–13
Following the departure of Lewis Holtby to Tottenham Hotspur and the injuries of several other players, he was included in the Bundesliga and Champions League squad. On 9 February 2013, he was an unused substitute against Bayern Munich.[6] On 16 February, in a 2–2 draw match against 1. FSV Mainz 05 he replaced Raffael in the 72nd minute and provided an assist for Michel Bastos's goal that helped Schalke secure the draw.[7]

2013–14
For the 2013–14 season, Meyer was issued number 7 jersey (last worn by Raúl).[8] He started the season by scoring a brace against SSVg Velbert, playing for Schalke 04 II.[9] His first match in 2013–14 Bundesliga was against VfL Wolfsburg coming as a 73rd minute substitute for Jefferson Farfán.[10] In an UEFA Champions League match against PAOK he made his first start of his career but was replaced in 69 minute by Christian Clemens.[11] Then in a DFB-Pokal match against Darmstadt 98 he scored his first ever goal for Schalke 04.[12] He also scored against giants Borussia Dortmund after coming as a substitute for Christian Fuchs.[13] Following his wonderful performance against Chelsea in the UEFA Champions League, he became a transfer target for the adversary who was willing to give €15 million for Meyer.[14] He scored goals in consecutive matches against Eintracht Braunschweig and FC Augsburg.[15][16]

On 30 November 2013, Meyer signed a contract extension with Schalke until 30 June 2018.[17] He then scored in the first match after winter break against Hamburger SV.[18]

Junior teams
Meyer was part of Germany U-17 squad for 2012 UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship. He scored three goals and helped Germany to reach the final which the Germans lost in a penalty shoot-out to the Netherlands. Nevertheless, he was top scorer and awarded best player of the tournament. He won the Fritz Walter Under-17 Silver Medal in 2012.[5] He scored his first goal for Germany U19 in a friendly against Netherlands U19.

Senior team
He was included in the 30 man provisional squad for 2014 FIFA World Cup.[19] On 13 May 2014, he made his debut against Poland.[20] Though he started the match, in the 76th minute he was substituted by Maximilian Arnold.[21]

Style of play
Because of his dribbling abilities and his high speed, his playing style is compared to that of Mario Götze and Lionel Messi.[22] When asked about his good technique, Meyer replied "With ten years I have played Futsal for four years next to the football club in addition. In addition to the three workouts in the club I had in addition a Futsal session per week. Saturdays at noon was the point of the game and  in the afternoon the futsal game."[23]

Career statistics
Statistics accurate as of 11 May 2014