Wednesday, 26th June, 2013
Chelsea’s newest recruit Andre Schurrle has explained he is happy to finally sign for the Premier League club and insists that he is at Stamford Bridge to stay.
Schurrle was signed from Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen and although he spent his entire carrier in Germany, the 22-year-old says that he is familiar with the Premier League and Chelsea.
He told the club’s official site: “I’m familiar with English football and the Premier League as I watched it every weekend in Germany. Of course, I don’t know every player, but I know all of the teams and the ways in which they play, so I’m looking forward to testing myself against them.
“I saw lots of Chelsea last season, I wanted to come here so I think I watched every single Chelsea game. They finished the season very strongly; finishing third was very important for the club, qualifying for the Champions League without having to go through the qualifiers, so the last month in particular was very good.”
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The versatile forward is also looking forward to working with Jose Mourinho and claims that he already had a talk with the Chelsea manager during Michael Ballack’s testimonial match.
“I’m really looking forward to working with him. I got to know him at Michael Ballack’s testimonial a few weeks ago where we talked a little bit. He gave me advice on where to live and also explained what he expects from me. He’s a very good person with a big personality; he’s a great manager so it’s an absolute honour for me to now be one of his players.”
On being asked about the role his former Leverkusen team-mate Ballack had in his decision to join the London club, Schurrle said: “We talked a lot about it. I have a lot of contact with him, we send each other SMS messages regularly, so I spoke to him and he told me I had to make the move because Chelsea is a great club with great fans and great staff.
“Throughout my whole career Michael’s been a big help to me, he’s always there for me to offer advice and tell me what I can do better. At this club, a place where he played so well, it’s really helpful for me. He’s coming here for a few days soon and he’s going to introduce me to some people and help me settle in, which is obviously good for me.”
Schurrle further claimed that he is confident that Chelsea will have a good season under Mourinho and is looking forward to training with talents like Juan Mata, Oscar, Eden Hazard and is equally eager to learn from experienced campaigners such as John Terry, Ashley Cole, Petr Cech and Frank Lampard.
“They are all great players, very young with lots of quality. It was my dream to train every day with such talented players so I’m very much looking forward to it.
“I can learn many things from them. They’ve all had long careers and they are legends at Chelsea Football Club. I’ve watched them play since I was a young boy, so it’s an honour for me now to be colleagues of theirs at Chelsea.”
Schurrle, who is most comfortable playing wide on the left-flank, made 83 appearances for his former employers Leverkusen and netted 23 times in the process.
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