Christoph Metzelder is confident Real Madrid star Raul is set to seal a move to Schalke.
Metzelder left Madrid to join the German club earlier this summer and expects his former team-mate to follow having opened talks, with a two-year deal thought to be on offer.
Raul has spent his entire career with Real, setting new club records for appearances and goals since making his debut as a 17-year-old in 1994.
Now 33, he was on the fringes of the first team last season, making just eight league starts, and he is set to draw the curtain on a glittering spell at the Bernabeu.
Metzelder has signed a three-year contract with Schalke, who are back in the Champions League next season after finishing second in the Bundesliga.
And the 29-year-old defender believes Raul is already preparing for life in Gelsenkirchen.
"I understand him, I used to sit next to him on the Madrid team bus," Metzelder told Bild newspaper.
Ambition"Raul has the ambition to continue playing in the Champions League and is thinking seriously about Schalke.
"He has even been told which teams his sons will play in."
With Cristiano Ronaldo joining Gonzalo Higuain in the Real attack last season, Raul was restricted to just eight league starts and 22 substitute appearances, scoring five goals.
But Metzelder has no doubt he still has the ability and fitness to be a success in Germany.
"He is in top shape," he added. "He was injured only once in my three years at Madrid.
"He has a great personality and his presence would be a huge boost for this young team."
Goal machine
Real midfielder Rafael van der Vaart has Bundesliga experience having been signed from Hamburg in 2008 and also backed the Spain legend to spearhead the Schalke attack following the departure of top scorer Kevin Kuranyi.
"Raul is one of the best strikers in the world," he added.
"He has an innate goalscoring ability which he will never lose. He is a goal machine. He can certainly replace Kevin Kuranyi."
Raul is thought to have received other offers from clubs in the USA and Qatar too, but a move to Germany is his preferred option.
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