Schurrle an intriguing – and cheaper – midfield alternative to Sessegnon

Slavisa Jokanovic has added a World Cup winner to his squad with the loan capture of winger Andre Schurrle.

The German international, who was part of Die Mannschaft‘s triumphant side in Brazil four years ago, has joined Fulham on a two-year deal from Borussia Dortmund.

Schurrle, who is still only 27, returns to the Premier League after a three-and-a-half-year absence, having previously spent 18 months with Chelsea under Jose Mourinho.

Fantasy Premier League have listed Schurrle as a £6.0m midfielder in recent days, meaning the German wide-man is a cheaper option than Ryan Sessegnon (£6.5m) on the Fulham flank.

Although Schurrle has spent a large chunk of his career playing in Sessegnon’s wide-left position, the former Chelsea man is a versatile asset and would seem likely to line up on the opposite wing in Jokanovic’s customary 4-3-3 formation.

Upon signing for the Cottagers, Schurrle said:

Fulham were the first club that showed interest in me – that was something that I appreciated a lot, and one of the reasons I wanted to come here.

 I love ball possession, I love attacking, and I love making runs, so I think it could be perfect. I have to fight for my place and I have to show my quality so that I can be a member who really helps the team.

The History

Born in November 1990, Schurrle spent much of his youth with local club Ludwigshafen SC before a move to Mainz in 2006. After progressing through the German side’s academy system, Schurrle made his Bundesliga debut in August 2009 and quickly established himself as a first-team regular.

After two seasons, 66 league appearances, 20 Bundesliga goals and eight assists for Mainz, Schurrle departed for Bayer Leverkusen in the summer of 2011.

Already a Germany international by this point, Schurrle went on to score 18 league goals for Leverkusen over the next two seasons, setting up a further 13 strikes for his team-mates.

Schurrle was to have his first taste of European football while at the BayArena, featuring in both the UEFA Champions League and Europa League in his two-year spell there.

Only one of Schurrle’s 65 league appearances for Leverkusen was as a substitute, so his subsequent time at Chelsea would prove to be something of an exercise in patience for a player used to starting every match.

Having joined the Blues in June 2013, half of Schurrle’s appearances in his debut Premier League season were cameos off the Chelsea bench. The German winger was to complete 90 minutes on only three occasions in 2013/14, but still finished with eight league goals and two assists.

Chelsea’s title-winning campaign of 2014/15 started in a similar vein and after only five league starts and nine substitute appearances for Mourinho’s side, Schurrle returned to the Bundesliga in the winter transfer window.

His half-season contribution for Wolfsburg helped the German side to a second-place finish, with Schurrle not only winning the DFB-Pokal (German Cup) with his new side but also collecting a Premier League winners’ medal for his efforts at Stamford Bridge.

A successful season in 2015/16 (Wolfsburg were to reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League) led to a summer transfer to Dortmund, but his two years at the Westfalenstadion were dogged by injury and a lack of starts.

Andre Schurrle – A Season-by-Season Summary

The Prospects

The right flank was a problem position for Jokanovic last season, with Floyd Ayite and Neeskens Kebano (both £4.5m) plus loan signings Sheyi Ojo and Lucas Piazon among the midfielders fielded there during Fulham’s promotion-winning campaign. Aboubakar Kamara, a £4.5m forward in FPL this season and currently the most popular budget striker in the game, ended the season in that role.

With Sessegnon a fixture on the left flank and Jokanovic’s central midfield trio likely to be Jean Michael Seri (£5.5m), Tom Cairney (£5.0m) and, barring any further reinforcement, Kevin McDonald (£4.5m) or Stefan Johansen (£5.5m), then Schurrle would seem set for that troublesome right-wing role.

The Cottagers are also light up front, however, and while Jokanovic will almost certainly recruit a striker or two before Gameweek 1, Schurrle is capable of playing “out of position” as the spearhead of the Fulham attack – as he did on occasion for Dortmund last season.

Fulham’s opening run of fixtures are a mixed bag, although home matches against Crystal Palace, Burnley and Watford in the first six Gameweeks would likely tempt FPL managers into drafting in one of Cairney, Sessegnon or Schurrle.

Despite his 2017/18 campaign failing to ignite, Schurrle’s underlying attacking statistics hold up well to scrutiny. The German winger had an attempt on goal every 34.3 minutes, a far better rate of chances than Sessegnon (72.1) or Cairney (52.7) recorded. It should be said, of course, that Sessegnon spent half of last season at left-back.

Twenty-six of Schurrle’s 36 attempts on goal came from inside the box, with six deemed “big chances”.

Cairney’s ability to dictate play could further Schurrle’s goal threat: no Championship player who made more than ten starts had a better passing success rate (91.3%) or made more passes per fixture (79.5) and Cairney’s rate of penetrating through balls (0.3 per match) was second only to Brentford’s Romaine Sawyers.

Johansen, meanwhile, created 92 chances for Fulham last term and Seri has recorded 15 assists for Nice in Ligue 1 over the past two seasons.

Schurrle’s own chance creation rate last season – one every 68.6 minutes – was a modest one, however.

Looking back to the German winger’s time at Chelsea, Schurrle scored 11 goals at a rate of one every 159.5 minutes – only Mohamed Salah, Raheem Sterling and the now-departed Philippe Coutinho bettered that rate among first-choice Premier League midfielders last season.

Schurrle was presented with a goal-scoring opportunity every 24.8 minutes in 2013/14, the best rate among midfielders with 30 or more appearances to their name that season. A chance creation rate of one every 49 minutes in the same campaign would underscore the suggestion that Schurrle is more likely to score himself than assist a goal – a happy problem for his owners in FPL this season if he was to replicate that pattern.

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