Papadopolous, or short Papa, is probably our best Magath-Era transfer. Came to us from Piräus for 2 Million Euros. While he got subbed in our first BL match, he didnt really do particulary well there and was put on the bench. His breakout match has been vs Benefica in the Championsleague. His first match where he started for us, and instantly impressed and managed to become a Fan favorite already within that one match. I remember like it was yesterday. When the starting lineups were released for that match, many of us were like "who is this guy?" - and the rest is history: Papa managed to do a one-man-show Schalke had only seen once before by Neuer vs Porto, and that as a freaking defender. Papa would be found on the entire pitch, winning balls left and right and did so in style with his much beloved aggressive slide tackles. There was just no getting past him in that particular match.
Now a bit more on the player, aside from folklore: His biggest strenghts are his body and his willpower. Whenever Papa is on the pitch, he wants to win, and he shows that with every hair of his body. Losing is not just not an option. That however also is one of his biggest downfalls. Sometimes he gets a bit overmotivated and begins to play too aggressive. This is also one of the reasons you need to pair him with a more passive defender that is able to correct papas mistakes with clever positioning and speed. An additional perk of Papa is his offensive heading, which makes him a real threat in the box for corners. He utilizes a mixture of his bodymass and determination that is just very hard to defend against. I can certainly see him scoring 10 goals a season with a bit of luck. On the contrary though his defensive heading isnt the best.
As for his playing style: He likes to disrupt play very early, for once because hes a very good tackler, but also because his positioning isnt the best. So its not uncommon for him to push infront of the actual defense line. He is not particulary slow, but not that fast either, which however doesnt really matter that much with his playing style. He is well aware that hes not a decent passer, so he likes to play very safe but short passes to his teammates in order to keep the possession.
He works very hard and is probably his biggest critic. He learned german incredibly fast and seems to be very beloved among his teammates. Off the pitch, hes actually seems to be a very quirky and giggly guy, evidence for that thesis can be found in
this video. The workethic makes, at least me personally, quite sure that is made for greatness and will be among the top defenders in europe at some point. Though, it wouldnt suprise me if he would get moved into the defensive midfield, as that is a position he plays suprisingly well aswell and also plays to his strenghts.