Chelsea: Sure about Schurrle?

After the whirlwind of the last few months where tabloids claimed, refuted and bashed each other regarding Mourinho’s return to the Bridge, the dust now begins to settle as the euphoria of the Special One’s homecoming takes a back seat. The media’s spotlight will now finally (and thankfully) focus on more pressing concerns, like on Chelsea’s pedigree to mount a title challenge, or the new arrivals putting pen to paper to bridge the gaping hole at the Bridge from last season’s endeavors. The latter is what will be the focus of this article, as Bayern Leverkusen attacker, Andre Schurrle becomes Mourinho’s first signing in his second spell in charge at the Blues.

First, let’s have a little backgrounder on the German forward. Andre Schurrle started his footballing career as a six year old, playing for his hometown youth cub Ludwigshafener FC, where he spent the next ten years. He then moved to FC Mainz 05, securing the U-19 Bundesliga title under Thomas Tuchel. Impressed by Schurrle’s performances, Tuchel introduced him to the first team, playing him as a left winger in a 4-3-3. He went on to bag 5 goals and 3 assists for Mainz in 33 appearances in his first top flight season, as Mainz finished 9^th. In his next season, Schurrle returned as an even more impressive prospect. His performances netted him a 5 year deal with Bayer Leverkusen mid-way through the season, as he finished with a brilliant 15 goal return in 34 league appearances, surpassing Mohammed Zidan’s club record of 14 goals in 2006-07. Next season, Schurrle started his 2 year journey with Leverkusen, where he had an indifferent first season. Come last season, Schurrle had a fruitful campaign, scoring 14 times and assisting 9. At the end of the season, Leverkusen’s sporting director Rudi Voller announced that a fee had been agreed for Schurrle for his transfer to Chelsea, which would be completed after a medical and agreeing of personal terms.

Why Schurrle is an intelligent signing

Schurrle comes off as a good piece of business on multiple levels. Considering that he is just 22, Schurrle fits comfortably in Chelsea’s long term rebuilding project with young dynamic players making up the core element of the side. Also, Schurrle’s fee is reported to be 22 million Euros for a 5 year deal, which isn’t bad at all considering a massively inflated market for young, budding prospects.

Schurrle’s playing style itself suggests that he will be an intelligent buy. Coming from a family of athletes (his sister Sabrina Schurrle is a track and field athlete), Schurrle brings with him his explosive running, great athleticism and work rate as well as incisive finishing. He also offers a completely different tactical option in Chelsea’s attacking trio, compared to the likes of Eden Hazard, Oscar and Juan Mata. Unlike the three musketeers, Schurrle likes playing as an inside forward rather than as an advanced playmaker or attacking midfielder, preferring to directly run at the full back rather than trying to play his way around. Another plus point of his superior conditioning is that Schurrle drops deep to help defensively, an attribute which isn’t seen in Eden Hazard or Juan Mata’s game. Also, considering Chelsea’s recent inability to score regularly from distance, Schurrle will also add his confident long range attempts to the squad. Another key aspect of his game is his brilliant long distance sprinting on the counter attack (Is that why Speedy Gonzalez says “Andre, Andre?”), something that also aids Chelsea’s tactic to hurt teams on the break. In the season just concluded, Schurrle took 122 shots at goal in 34 games (Average: 3.6), which is significantly higher than the stats produced by Hazard (63 shots in 34 games, Average: 1.9), Mata (70 shots in 35 games, Average: 2) and Oscar (60 in 34 games, Average: 1.8).

Tactically speaking, Schurrle can also play as a centre forward, which offers Chelsea another option in what was a problem area when both Fernando Torres and Demba Ba were struggling to find the back of the net. Considering that Hazard and Schurrle can operate on either wing (although both prefer the left flank), Mourinho now has a flank switching tactic at his mercy, which can give opposing fullbacks a nightmare.

Overall, Schurrle looks like a wise long term investment, one which also offers a refreshingly different attacking option that Chelsea didn’t possess earlier.

Why Schurrle could be a disaster

To know just what could go horribly wrong, Schurrle needs to look no further than his own Chelsea and Germany team-mate Marko Marin. Signed as a fast, versatile attacking option, Marin made just one full appearance all season, failing to live up to his standard of performances a few years ago at Werder Bremen. Firstly, breaking into the Chelsea side will not be easy by any means for Schurrle. With Juan Mata and Hazard being the two mainstays thanks to their excellent performances last season, Schurrle will have Victor Moses, Oscar, Kevin De Bruyne and Marko Marin breathing down his neck to occupy that final attacking midfielder’s spot. The centre forward’s role will also be a struggle to make his own, a fairly confident Fernando Torres, Demba Ba, the impressive Romelu Lukaku and possibly a world class centre forward, which Mourinho is expected to sign, will be raring to impress the Special One.

Another point of concern is Schurrle’s inconsistency. On an off day, Schurrle can make you shrug in discontent, with heavy touches, predictable mono-dimensional running and a constant need to dribble all at show during his not-so-fancy showings in the past. His record speaks for him too – Schurrle managed only 5 goals in his first season at Mainz, after which he bounced back with 15 goals next season. He then slumped again, scoring just 9 times in 40 appearances, after which he found his touch again, scoring 14 in the next campaign. Schurrle must realize that his inconsistencies could cost him very dearly, as a prolonged spell of poor performances could very well see him warming the bench. That fact could very well be a double whammy for Schurrle, as he looks to cement his place in the German national side, who like Chelsea also have a wealth of attacking talent (Mario Gotze, Marco Reus, Patrick Hermann, Lewis Holtby, Mesut Ozil, Thomas Muller, Kevin Großkreutz, Lukas Podolski and Julian Draxler waiting in the wings, Mario Gomez, Miroslav Klose and Max Kruse being the other centre forward contenders.)

So, considering the pros and cons, it will be tough how exactly his fortune pans out at the Bridge. But whatever be the case, it will “Schurrle” be pretty intriguing.