Timo Hildebrand soon to be a Royal Blue
Subject to a medical and the completion of outstanding contractual agreements, Timo Hildebrand will soon play for Schalke 04. The Royal Blues are on the verge of signing the keeper.
The 32-year-old (d.o.b. 5 April 1979) was under contract to the Portuguese top-flight side Sporting Lisbon in the 2010/11 season but has recently been a free agent. Hildebrand's contract at the Royal Blues is due to run to 30 June 2012.
This signing is Schalke's reaction to losing Ralf Fährmann for several months due to a torn medial collateral ligament in his left knee and a cruciate ligament injury suffered in the last Bundesliga game against FC Kaiserslautern. Head coach Huub Stevens only has two regular keepers available in Lars Unnerstall and Mathias Schober.
The seven-time German international has recently been training with second division outfit Eintracht Frankfurt to keep fit and is also been working on extra sessions with his personal goalkeeping coach Kai Rabe.
The Worms-born keeper started his career in 1984 at FV Hofheim before joining VfB Stuttgart in 1995. The 1.86 metre shot-stopper lifted the German title at Stuttgart four years ago and joined the national squad. Hildebrand was the third choice keeper at the 2006 World Cup for Germany who finished in third place. He joined Valencia in 2007 going on to win the Spanish Cup with the Primera Division side. Since then Timo has played for TSG 1899 Hoffenheim (2009-2010) and Sporting Lisbon (2010-2011).
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