Mourinho wanted to keep me at Chelsea, claims Wolfsburg’s Schurrle

Jose Mourinho wanted to keep Andre Schurrle at Chelsea but the midfielder forced through his move to Wolfsburg.

Schurrle won the World Cup with Germany in the summer and was expected to hit the ground running this season and step up another level.

But he was struck by illnesses and injuries and the fine form of some of his team-mates in his position.

Wolfsburg snapped the 24-year-old up for around £24m in January and he has helped them up to second in the Bundesliga.

"I've been a fan of Chelsea since I was a child and I was fine there until the last day," Schurrle told Bild.

"But the most important thing for me was to play football and have fun and I could no longer do it there.

"Wolfsburg is perhaps a lesser a club and I thought about it long before accepting. I could have stayed at Chelsea, Mourinho wanted me to. I consulted the German coach Joachim Low about Wolfsburg and he said that it would be a great destination for me."