Forget the future

After sending Schalke through to the knockout stages of the Champions League, 19-year-old Max Meyer was swamped by his team-mates and even his boss Roberto Di Matteo.

The Champions League-winning coach joked around with the teenager in front of Schalke's travelling supporters. A fairly flamboyant and technically strong player in his own career, Di Matteo seems to have struck the right chord with Meyer.

The 19-year-old was the outright match-winner in Maribor, coming off the bench in the 55th minute to bring some creativity to an otherwise lackluster Schalke display. He tucked home the decisive goal, which booked the Last 16 berth, seven minutes after his introduction.

In his post-match interview in Slovenia, Di Matteo insisted the young midfielder didn't miss out on a starting spot due to a bad performance.

"He was a bit unlucky not to start," Schalke's coach said. "It shows his positive attitude that he can come in and then decide the match."

"Meyer will play an important role at Schalke in the future," he added.

Of the 14 matches so far in the Bundesliga this season, Meyer has only started nine times. But the trend is positive: Meyer has scored and provided an assist his last two starts in the league. His goal against Maribor was his first Champions League goal of the season.

Jewel in the Crown

Schalke have always held high hopes for Meyer. Shortly following the progression of Julian Draxler from the youth academy to the first-team, he was being groomed to take the throne in Gelsenkirchen.

In about 60 league appearances, there's been plenty to like about Meyer's play. In fact, the more you see, the better it looks. Meyer has crafted his technique through almost a decade of Futsal practice, honing his impeccable first-touch and seemingly elastic ball-control when dribbling at pace.

Subtle and slick, he can discover enough room to affect the game in the tiniest of spaces, especially important for the Royal Blues considering their desire to play particularly direct and aggressive football under Di Matteo.

In combination with Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting, the team's current top scorer this season, Meyer could be brilliant. While the Cameroonian can equally vary his runs, most effective from deep, Meyer can offer extra flexbility and 'universality,' a growing term to describe players who can move seamlessly between positions.

Recently, Di Matteo has been forming his long-term vision for the Royal Blues, something which has been practically non-existent over the last decade in Gelsenkirchen. The former Chelsea coach says that the current 3-5-2 formation is simply a temporary solution to use the current players at his disposal effectively.

Whether Di Matteo has the freedom to reach his goal of a flexible 4-3-3 formation will be established over the course of the season. Meyer, however, seems the logical choice to become the third forward to nail down a regular place in the team, continuing a rapid development that should take his level up a notch in 2015. Leaving the teenager out of the team seems unthinkable now.