Pre-season friendly preview: Southampton vs Schalke 04

Southampton face Schalke 04 in their first pre-season friendly on Thursday afternoon after beginning their tour of China this week.

Mark Hughes and a fairly young Southampton squad will also play Chinese side Jiangsu Suning next week after their opener against the German giants.

Schalke finished in second place in the Bundesliga in the 2017/18 season and qualified for next season’s Champions League behind champions Bayern Munich.

In contrast to this, Saints struggled form much of the campaign and eventually dragged themselves clear of relegation in the Premier League following a late upturn in form.

Both clubs have ties with Chinese football and are therefore both touring the country at the same time. Saints are owned by Chinese businessman Jisheng Gao, whilst Schalke entered a five-year partnership with Hebei China Fortune in April.

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Southampton squad

Stuart Armstrong, Charlie Austin, Ryan Bertrand, Jordy Clasie, Steven Davis, Jake Flannigan, Fraser Forster, Manolo Gabbiadini, Sam Gallagher, Jake Hesketh, Wesley Hoedt, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Alfie Jones, Mario Lemina, Harry Lewis, Shane Long, Alex McCarthy, Sam McQueen, Nathan Redmond, Harrison Reed, Oriol Romeu, Jack Rose, Josh Sims, Callum Slattery, Jack Stephens, Matt Targett, Jan Valery, Jake Vokins, James Ward-Prowse

Schalke 04 squad

Fahrmann, Langer, Nubel, Insua, Baba, Stambouli, Kehrer, Riether, Naldo, Czyborra, Wiemann, McKennie, Mascarell, Serdar, Bentaleb, Konoplyanka, Caligiuri, Tekpetey, Geis, Boujellab, Goller, Kubler, Uth, Di Santo, Skrzybski, Teuchert, Kruger, Kutucu

(from bundesliga.com)

New signings on show

Saints fans will be able to get their first look at Stuart Armstrong during this match after the midfielder joined from Celtic for a £7m fee.

Mohamed Elyounoussi is due to join up with the squad later in the tour, whilst Cedric Soares and Maya Yoshida will take longer breaks after their World Cup exploits.

Schalke have welcomed five new signings to their squad this summer. Mark Uth, Omar Mascarell, Suat Serdar and Steven Skrzybski could all be involved in this match, whilst Salif Sane is still yet to join up for pre-season.

A competitive game is expected despite it being early in pre-season, and most of the players in both travelling parties will see time on the pitch.

Saints boss Mark Hughes has stated the importance of giving all of his players game time in China and will give most of his players 45 minutes in this one.