Klaas-Jan Huntelaar has been Schalke's most important player in 2014, scoring nine goals in 10 games in 2014.
Huntelaar had high profile stops earlier in his career with Real Madrid and AC Milan, but failed to duplicate the success he had at Ajax.
Huntelaar has a €15 million release clause that triggers at the end of the current season, which he insisted upon when he renewed his contract in December of 2012.
With such a low fee for a player that scores goals at Huntelaar's rate, it will be difficult for Schalke to retain him.
Süddeutsche Zeitung noted that Huntelaar seems to have undergone something of a metamorphosis in recent weeks. "He's changing from a solitary hunter of goals into a social authority and ambitious role-model," wrote the broadsheet. His age was a factor too, mused SZ. "He's the one ordering the beers since the others – Goretzka (19), Meyer (18), Kolasinac (20), Ayhan (19) Draxler (20) –would be forced to show their IDs."