Ibisevic prepared to "give it all" both on and off the pitch
Matters could hardly be worse for FC Schalke 04. Bundesliga legend Vedad Ibisevic still proclaims that he has plenty of positives yet to contribute.
Thirty-six-year-old striker Vedad Ibisevic wants to keep "living the dream so long as it's possible". The former refugee from war-torn Yugoslavia knows a thing or two about tough times. In an online interview with German website transfermarkt.de, the veteran expressed hope that he could still make an impact.
"In the current situation, in which things are not going as well as we would like them to, there's a lot of pressure on the players," he noted, "With my experience, I want to show the younger ones in particular how they can deal with it."
Ibisevic acknowledged that his limited playing time with Schalke thus far this season stemmed from the fact that he joined the club relatively late.
"It took me a while to get back to peak physical condition," he conceded, "but now I'm absolutely prepared to give my all. That applies to matters both on and off the pitch."
By all accounts, the former Aachen, Stuttgart, Hoffenheim, and Hertha player has already done quite a bit off the pitch for his new organization. It was revealed in the interview that he spontaneously opted to donate the guaranteed of relatively meager salary to the local community.
"I decided to donate my base pay," he divulged, "It's important to me that this money benefits the people of Gelsenkirchen. There are many wonderful organizations in the city and I will keep myself up-to-date about them in the coming days."
With 127 goals in 343 Bundesliga appearances, Ibisevic currently sits fourth on the league's all-time list of goal-scorers of foreign origin. He needs only seven more tallies to eclipse Giovane Elber of Brazil and move up into third.