Volz handed Schalke trial

Volz: Gone on trial at Schalke

Former Arsenal and Fulham defender Moritz Volz has been handed a lifeline by his first professional club Schalke.

The 26-year-old has been without a club since July but has gone on trial with the Bundesliga outfit, whom he left back in 1999 to join the Gunners.

The full-back was included in the 26-man squad which flew out to Jerez on Saturday morning for a week-long training camp ahead of the Bundesliga restart on 15th January.

If he is signed up, Volz would bring experience to Felix Magath's side after spending ten years in English football, playing for Arsenal, Wimbledon, Fulham and Ipswich.

He spent last season on loan at the Tractor Boys before being released by the Cottagers, for whom he played 146 times.

Magath will take a close look at the player at the training camp, especially as the future of his current first-choice right-back Rafinha seems unclear after he reported for training three days late following the festive break.

Disciplinary action

The Brazilian extended his holiday without permission and is now facing disciplinary action.

Magath told Bild newspaper: "It is all about discipline.

"I expect a player to come to work and if he doesn't come, I expect that he informs me personally.

"But he has not done that. It's all about the team working and it is up to the players themselves to decide who belongs to this team."

It is not Rafinha's only disciplinary breach - the 24-year-old was fined in 2008 when he disobeyed orders in order to represent Brazil at the Olympic Games, missing the first few matches of the Bundesliga season.

Last summer he was sent home to Brazil for 10 days to think over his future after being linked with a transfer to Bayern Munich.