By Ewah Chika.
Ousmane Dembele (Rennes), Emre Mor (Nordsjaelland), Sebastian Rode (Bayern Munich), Batra (Bacelona), Raphael Guerreiro (Lorient), Mario Gotze (Bayern Munich) and now Andre Schurlle (Wolfsburg) are the players Borussia Dortmund have recruited this transfer window.
Schurlle though still 25 has played for four different clubs before joining Dortmund since turning professional in 2009 in Mainz 05. Shurlle has also not lasted more than two years at a club since
leaving his boyhood club Mainz 05 although that isn't any fault of his. Dortmund signed the former Chelsea player as a direct replacement for Armenian and Manchester United's attacking midfielder Henrikh Mkhtaryan who left for £27 million with one year remaining in his contract with Dortmund. The German international is a champion having won the FIFA World Cup with Germany in 2014, the English Premiership with Chelsea and the DFB-Pokal with Wolfsburg in 2015. Schurlle is expected to rediscover the impressive form he displayed in Chelsea in his debut season (2013/2014 season) which saw him score eight goals in 30 league games as well as scoring a hat-trick and a vital goal in the quarter-final game against PSG which qualified Chelsea for the semi-final in the 2013/2014 Champions League. Dortmund is also signing a utility player who can play in different positions namely attacking midfield left, forward left, forward right and also as a false 9.
"Borussia Dortmund is one of the top clubs in Europe with a strong and extremely exciting squad. In the coming years I want to celebrate success with Borussia Dortmund and I'm going to start training to convince people that it was right to sign me," were the words of Schuller upon signing for Dortmund on Friday.
Shurlle's greatest problem since leaving Bayer Leverkusen for Chelsea for £18 million is his restricted game time which has regressed his then flourishing career. To buttress further, the former Mainz midfielder made 44 league appearances for Chelsea in 18 months which is poor compared to his 65 appearances In two years for Bayer. Schurlle predicament did not change in Wolfsburg after he made the move to the Volkswagen side for £22 million in the winter of 2015. Though Dortmund did not experience lack of goals last season, Schurlle's perfect finishing and ability to shot long range shots will further compliment the attacking trident of Aubayemang, Gotze and Reus next season. The midfielder will also give coach Thomas Tuchel a plan B due to his ability to cut inside and shoot just like he does for Germany (Schurlle assisted Mario Gotze's winning goal against Argentina in the FIFA World Cup In 2014). The midfielder also has an excellent fitness level , work-rate and pace which is important for a team (Dortmund) that plays counter-attacking football. Last season, was a difficult season for him as he played only 29 league games (21 starts) yet he still managed to score nine goals, providing three assists although he was regularly inconsistent .
At 25, It is difficult to remember that Schurlle is still young, which is because of his early development making his debut for the German national team aged 19. At Wolfsburg and Chelsea, it practically did not work out for Schurlle but now the ball is in his court after joining Dortmund to silence his critics and right his wrongs.
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