Westermann joins Schalke

Schalke 04 announce another new signing for the forthcoming season after luring away a defender from Bundesliga rivals Arminia Bielefeld. "The Miners” on Friday agreed terms with Arminia about the transfer of our client Heiko Westermann whose original contract would have kept him at Bielefeld until 2008. The centre-back had already in March agreed upon signing a 4-year contract with Schalke which will keep him there until June 30th, 2011. "We are happy that the move has materialised as planned as Westermann was our main target for the man-marker position”, said Schalke´s sporting director Andreas Müller. "We have been watching him for quite a while. His strengths are already highly visible, yet there is still room for improvement.” Schalke-coach Mirko Slomka also was very pleased about the signing of the defender. "We don´t only regard Heiko Westermann as a good footballer. Our talks with him have convinced us that he also fits in well at Schalke”, said the 39-year old gaffer. "I am very optimistic that he will become a valuable player for us in the next few years.” Westermann, who was born in Alzenau in Lower Franconia, started his footballing career at amateur clubs SG Schimborn, 1.FC Hösbach and Bayern Alzenau before joining SpVgg Greuther Fürth in 2002 for whom he played three years in the 2. Bundesliga (83 matches, 2 goals). In 2005 the 6.2ft defender joined Bielefeld for whom he played in 67 of possible 68 matches, and scored five goals. After Mathias Schober (from Hansa Rostock), Jermaine Jones (from Eintracht Frankfurt) and Benedict Höwedes (from Schalke´s U19 youth team), Westermann is already the fourth signing the "Royal Blues” have made for the new season.