Schalke boss Huub Stevens has told Netherlands coach Bert van Marwijk he can not afford to leave Klaas Jan Huntelaar on the sidelines at UEFA EURO 2012. 

Huntelaar will head into the summer in career-best form having scored a Bundesliga-best 29 goals, while he also netted ten times in the UEFA Europa League. The 28-year-old was also the leading goalscorer in EURO 2012 qualification with 12 goals.

Despite that, Huntelaar faces playing second fiddle for the Netherlands with Arsenal's Robin van Persie, who has scooped the major awards in England this season after scoring 30 Premier League goals, the first choice.

With both players in rare goalscoring touch, Stevens believes his fellow Dutchman Van Marwijk must employ both and do away with his preferred 4-5-1 formation from the qualifiers. "One has scored many goals in England and the other in Germany - these are two countries where the football played is not bad," he told Schalke's official website.

"Klaas Jan is one of the best strikers in the world inside the penalty area. If I was the Dutch national team coach and I have a striker of Klaas Jan at my disposal I would not waste his skills. That goes for Van Persie too - I'd just play them together."