Andre Schurrle move to Borussia Dortmund

     

Dortmund announced the signing on their official club website on Friday (in German) and completed the signing of Wolfsburg forward Andre Schurrle on Friday after the Germany international agreed a five-year contract with the Black and Yellows.

       Schurrle moved to Wolfsburg from Chelsea in Feb.2015 and scored 13 goals in 63 matches for the Wolves. He'll now take his talents to Signal Iduna Park to join manager Thomas Tuchel's setup.

      The twenty five year-old arrives not long after Henrikh Mkhitaryan completed his move to Manchester United, and he'll hope to thrive alongside Germany colleagues Marco Reus and Mario Gotze in Dortmund.

    It's only been 18 months since Schurrle made his return to the Bundesliga following a topsy-turvy spell at Stamford Bridge, and Dortmund have clearly liked what they've seen of his progress back in Germany.This summer's departures of Mkhitaryan to United and Mats Hummelsto Bayern were difficult blows to take, but Tuchel has taken steps to swiftly replenish his ranks with plenty of time until the start of the new season.

       Schurrle has been capped 55 times for Germany and brings a great deal of pedigree with him, despite still being just 25 years of age.

He began his career at FSV Mainz 05 in 2009, spending two years at the club before a £6.5 million transfer to Bayer 04 Leverkusen.His performances there gained the attention of Chelsea, who signed him for a reported £18 million in 2013.

    Schürrle has been a full international for Germany since 2010, gaining over 50 caps and scoring 20 goals. He was a member of the German squads which reached the semi-finals at UEFA Euro 2012 and won the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

      During extra-time in the 2014 FIFA World Cup Final he provided the assist for Mario Götze's winning goal against Argentina.

     Much like Mkhitaryan, the forward can play in a variety of roles and is comfortable out wide, as a supporting striker or as a more withdrawn No. 10, although Gotze now appears likely to occupy that space.One of Tuchel's main priorities will be to provide striker Pierre-EmerickAubameyang with a steady supply of ammunition after he netted 39 goals last season, and Schurrle will help ensure that's the case.

      Dortmund looked slightly undersupplied in attack when Reus was out of action last season, but the acquisition of Schurrle will see that the team doesn't become overreliant on the captain.

    Schürrle played one-and-a-half Premier League seasons at the English club before joining VfL Wolfsburg for £22 million in January 2015, winning the DFB-Pokal and DFL-Supercup in his first year.

Mario Getze move to Borussia Dortmund

        Bayern Munich are in the final stages of negotiating a sell of Mario Götze back to Borussia Dortmund, according to Chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge. It’s confirmed that the disappointing three years of the Götze era in Munich is coming to an end.

      Speaking with Sport Bild ahead of Bayern’s friendly against SV Lippstadt, Rummenigge confirmed that Götze’s team are working on the deal to bring the attacking midfielder back to Dortmund where he spent the early years of his career.

     I can confirm that discussions are taking place with Borussia Dortmund and his agent,” Rummenigge said. “At the end of the day, an agreement must be reached over the fee. I cannot yet report that that has happened.

That transfer fee, according to Sport Bild, will be around €28 million plus add-ons.

      Mario Götze is a wonderful footballer. Unfortunately, it has not worked out for him at FC Bayern. He was at Bayern for three years; he's now 24 years old. He has to play now! Accordingly, the transfer is a logical development.

         Götze’s transfer to Munich was a much ballyhooed “destroying” of Dortmund and the rest of the Bundesliga by anti-Bayern people. However, once he arrive in Munich, Götze was unable to take the next step in his progression to reach that truly elite status in the game. The injuries and the immense competition that he faced at Bayern didn’t help the situation.

           Interestingly enough, Mario’s younger brother Felix is starting for Bayern in their friendly against Lippstadt.

After scoring the winning goal in the World Cup final two years ago Gotze’s career has stuttered, stalled and frozen in time on the substitutes bench of the Allianz Arena.

            Not fancied by former Bayern boss Pep Guardiola, the 24-year-old has been the subject of unrelenting transfer speculation as Anfield fan boys drool over YouTube montages.

            Then Carlo Ancelotti enters the fray. Ancelotti insists Gotze has a future at Bayern, Gotze decides he’ll give it one more year and fast forward a few weeks and he’s starting as the lone striker for the German national side in the opening Euro game against Ukraine.

           It didn’t go well. Criticism of his performance in an unfamiliar position rained in but, in a surprise to most, Germany boss Joachim Löw named an unchanged side for the second fixture against Poland.

             A dour 0-0 against the Polish and little to offer as a striker with a crucial clash against Northern Ireland coming, Gotze again retained his place in the starting line-up but was pushed into a wide midfield role – but how did he fair?