German international Andre Schurrle says that arrival of Jose Mourinho at Stamford Bridge helped influence his switch to Chelsea this summer.
Reports claim that the fee agreed between the Blues and Bayer Leverkusen is worth around £18 million and he’s signed a four-year deal to play for the West London club.
Schurrle is already looking forward to working with Mourinho and states that the Portuguese manager’s presence was a factor in his decision.
He said:
“Mourinho has a great personality and is just a cool guy. He was a big influence in my move.
“He gave me a handshake when we were at Michael Ballack’s testimonial game, and said “it’s OK, soon you’ll be with me”. It gave me a lot of pride and was a great feeling.”
(Metro)
Schurrle has received mixed reviews since he was linked with Chelsea over the past year and at the moment it’s hard to see where he’ll fit in if he aims to be a regular in the starting XI. It’s unlikely that he’ll be able to usurp either Juan Mata or Eden Hazard and whilst Oscar’s form was patchy we have seen how effective he can be at his best and Mourinho could help turn him into a consistent performer.
I’m a little underwhelmed by Schurrle from what I have seen of him so far and I’ve seen him a fair few signs, but won’t pretend I watch him every week like some people do…who’d want to watch Bayer Leverkusen every week? Anyway, like anyone he will get a chance and I hope he thrives in an environment where he is surrounded by better players. He’s still a young man, a good runner and is blessed with pace which could prove particularly useful on counter-attacks. He’s also a little different from what we already have and adds a bit of variety to the attack as well as being an emergency third-choice forward.
He’ll link up with his new team mates early July and it’s likely we’ll see a few more new faces before September 1st.
Source: Metro