Clemens set for a spell on the sidelines
Gelsenkirchen - FC Schalke 04's injury woes have been further compounded by news that 22-year-old midfielder Christian Clemens will be out for the foreseeable future.
Long injury list
Clemens wrote on his Facebook page on Tuesday that he has suffered a recurrence of a pelvic injury and will therefore go through a rehabilitation process in Donaustauf, Bavaria which will begin on Wednesday.
Clemens has struggled to break into the Royal Blues' first team since moving from Bundesliga 2 outfit 1. FC Köln last summer, and the persistent inflammation of his pelvic region has been bothering him during Schalke's training camp in Qatar. "I had hoped that things would be better in 2014 but the problem, which I have had since October, has worsened. I'm out of contention right now," Clemens announced.
Schalke, who begin the second half of the 2013/14 Bundesliga season on January 26 against Hamburger SV, will already be without new arrival Jan Kirchhoff (knee injury), long-term absentees Marco Höger and Dennis Aogo (both cruciate ligament rupture), and potentially Julian Draxler (thigh injury). Whether captain Benedikt Höwedes (torn muscle) and striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (torn knee ligament) will be fit to feature is yet to be determined.
