McKennie and Kabak set to play in central defence for Schalke
Weston McKennie and Ozan Kabak are likely to be partnered in central defence for Schalke 04 against Fortuna Düsseldorf.
Schalke 04 coach David Wagner has revealed that Weston McKennie and Ozan Kabak are expected to form the central defence when his side face Fortuna Düsseldorf in the Bundesliga on Saturday.
Kabak and McKennie were partnered in central defence after Salif Sané was forced off in last week's 3-2 win over Augsburg, and they look set to play together again on Saturday, with both Sané and Benjamin Stambouli ruled out and Matija Nastasic highly doubtful.
"Matija Nastasic is unable to take part in training due to problems with his achilles tendon. As a result, it's likely that Ozan Kabak and Weston McKennie will line up as our centre-backs," Wagner said, as quoted by the club.
"Weston handled the switch to centre-back well against Augsburg. It's not a situation we would have wished for, but it makes for an interesting dilemma that we now have to solve," he added.
Kabak only recently made his return from injury, and Wagner feels the Turkish youngster is making good progress.
"Playing 90 minutes back-to-back within a short span of time is not easy. Now, it's about him finding his rhythm once again. Those first two matches have already helped him a lot in that regard," Wagner said about Kabak.