Andre Schurrle is highly-rated, at just 20 years of age he made his international debut , and at 21 the German started the quarter-final match at Euro 2012 for a star-studded German team.
In the last season, he helped Leverkusen to a third placed finish in the Bundesliga, finishing only one point behind Champions League finalists Borussia Dortmund. He was heavily involved for Leverkusen, starting 34 league games, scoring 11 and setting up seven of his side's 65 goals.
An added goal threat from wide, could that be what attracted Chelsea to him? Potentially. Eleven goals is a decent tally, but his approach for Leverkusen has been very similar to that of Gareth Bale at Tottenham, regularly coming infield to find shooting positions at every opportunity. He had more shots (122) than any other player in the German top flight in 2012/13, he also had the most shots off target (46).
A 9% conversion rate is not good enough but just like Gareth Bale last season, a huge proportion come from long distance (55.7%). His goal in the 2-0 win over Schalke back in November showed exactly what he is capable of.
Picked up the ball on the left side after a Schalke attack, just inside the opposition half, Schurrle darted in onto his right foot, taking advantage of the space created by the runs of Stefan Kiessling and Gonzalo Castro, before firing an unstoppable rocket into the top corner. Of all 898 goals in the German Bundesliga last season, only two were from further out than that strike.
Only Bayern Munich's Franck Ribery (240) attempted to dribble past an opponent more times than Schurrle (194). Despite playing a shorter season in Germany than England, he completed 66 more dribbles than any Chelsea player, with Eden Hazard (128) leading the side. The quality of the Bundesliga cannot be denied as seen in the last UEFA Champions league.
Schurrle has the quality to improve our side and the potential to go on to be something great. It could well be a great match up, and could give the brilliant attacking midfield trio at Stamford Bridge greater competition than Victor Moses and Marko Marin have provided.
Signing Schurrle means improving our strength in a position we have a real gem in Eden Hazard but I don't think there's anything wrong in giving the lads some competition and help them improve. It can also mean Chelsea can move on if Eden gets injured without fear unlike last season.
I think Chelsea have done well to sign Schurrle as he brings something different to the team increasing our tactical flexibility and also squad depth. I believe this team will achieve great things especially with the world's best manager around. Carefree
Adedeji Oluwaferanmi. I am Nigerian and the craziest Chelsea fan ever. Never been to the Bridge but my heart is forever there.