ANDRE SCHURRLE

Who is he? Where does he play?

He is Bayer Leverkusen's German midfielder who has been in the news quite a lot recently as he edges very close to a move to Chelsea. The Blues have been persistent in their pursuit of Schurrle after having a bid rejected at the start of the season. Now they are back, better, harder, faster and stronger, and ready to land their blond-haired 22 year old for the same price of his age, 22 million euros.

22 million euros?! Is he worth that much?

Chelsea's new transfer-market habit seems to be skillful, young, talented attacking midfielders, after Oscar, Eden Hazard and Victor Moses came through the luscious Stamford Bridge arrival suite* in the summer, so they may say yes, he is. Many lazy commentators, like myself, who look at his 11 goals and 6 assists from 34 appearances this season, would also say, yes, he is. 

*I don't know what Stamford Bridge's arrival suite looks like, I'm just guessing.

So he's quite productive then?

He is. His 15 goal season for Mainz in 2010 earned him an £8 million move to Leverkusen where he has impressed as the pharmaceutical club finished 5th last year in the Bundesliga and sit 3rd this time round. Starting usually as a left-attacker in a 4-3-3 system, he combines startling pace and close control to dribble inside from wide areas. He is mostly a direct goal threat, hitting a total of 47 shots this term, but can also lay-off opportunities for his team-mates, creating 34 chances so far. 

He fits into the system well then?

It's his impressive athleticism and energy that allows him to run the left-side of the 4-3-3, operating well in the counter-attack driven philosophy of Lewandowski and Hyypia. He likes to drop off, picking up the ball on the turn and running it towards goal, as shown by his prolific dribbling rate of 3.4 per game. He rarely chooses to beat his man on the outside, instead moving centrally to shoot (averaging 3.5 shots per-game), or link-up the play with other members of the attack. 

We'll get to watch him more often soon then?

His move to Chelsea looks extremely likely so yes, we will. If you'd have been paying attention however, Schurrle made a couple of appearances in Joachim Loew's German side in last year's European Championship as his worth to the counter-attack came into play in the latter-stages of the tournament. He broke into the senior side in 2010 and has gone onto make 22 appearances, scoring 7 goals. His quality has been known in Germany for years and Chelsea seem set to reap his counter-attacking talent.

For more, you can read this http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/andre-schrrle-scouting-report-lowdown-1835452