Schalke director of sport Christian Heidel has hit out at puns made at Holger Badstuber's expense after the defender failed to get off the bench during his first two games for the club.
Bild nicknamed him "Bankstuber" and "Benchstuber" after the Bayern Munich loanee failed to win minutes during the Royal Blue's first two games of 2017.
The 27-year-old joined Schalke on a six-month loan from Bayern Munich in January, but is yet to make his competitive debut for the Royal Blues.
Despite the club's struggles in the league, they have been solid at the back where Benedikt Howedes, Matija Nastasic and Naldo form the back three. They have conceded 20 goals, with 10 of them coming in the first five games of the season.
However, German tabloid Bild this week asked: "When will BANKstuber play?" They raised the question if Badstuber could be part of the starting formation when Schalke travel to his club Bayern Munich on Saturday.
"Wortspiel #Bankstuber dumm!" #Heidel bemängelt fehlenden Respekt gegenüber @Badstuber und nimmt Bayern-Leihgabe in Schutz! @s04 #SkyBuli pic.twitter.com/wRzPaYdCDB
- Sky Sport (@SkySportDE) February 1, 2017
But speaking to Sky, Heidel hit out at the report. He said: "Those puns are just disrespectful. Bankstuber -- Benchstuber -- belies his and the situations expectations. It's just stupid."
The Schalke boss explained that it was never planned to break up Schalke's defence because of Badstuber's arrival.
"We have seven games in February, and we've got players, everyone knows that, who are struggling with minor injuries, and we just wanted a safety net for this risk," Heidel said. "We've discussed it with Holger. He never had the idea to play in the first Ruckrunden match."
"Holger didn't play for a long time, he trains with the team and he will get his minutes, I am convinced."
Since tearing his anterior cruciate ligaments in December 2012, Badstuber has played in just 18 of a possible 140 league matches.