Dortmund sign Wolfsburg winger Schurrle for five years

Borussia Dortmund on Friday signed Germany winger Andre Schürrle from Bundesliga rivals VfL Wolfsburg for five football seasons for a reported fee of around 30 million euros ($33 million).

"Andre Schürrle is a Germany international with outstanding attacking potential who is also a very good passer of the ball and consistently contributes neatly to his team's defensive play," Borussia Dortmund's Sporting Director Michael Zorc said on the club's website.

"Though still just 25 years old, he has already amassed considerable international experience. His quality will be of great value for our team," he added.

This signing of the 25-year-old comes a day after the eight-time German champions re-signed forward Mario Goetze from Bayern Munich.

"Our offensive line-up is now complete," Zorc commented.

The signings mean that both the creator and scorer of the winning goal in the 2014 FIFA World Cup final against Argentina, which secured Germany's fourth triumph in the competition, will be lining up for Dortmund from next season onward.

Schürrle's personal record is impressive, the offensive midfielder having scored 48 goals and set up a further 29 in 174 Bundesliga matches. For the German national team, he has found the back of the net 20 times in 55 appearances.

At Dortmund, Schurrle will reunite with former coach Thomas Tuchel, who promoted him to Mainz's first team when taking charge of the club only days before the 2009-10 season.

"Borussia Dortmund is one of Europe's top clubs and they have a strong and extremely exciting squad," Schurrle said.

"I know from my own experience how much strength BVB can harness through its interaction with its fans and I am now very much looking forward to experiencing that as part of the Black and Yellows for the first time rather than as a marvelling opponent," the former Chelsea and Bayer Leverkusen player added.

"In the coming years I want to achieve success with Borussia Dortmund and can hardly wait to start training and to convince everyone that the club has made the right choice in signing me."

Schürrle had previously completed a switch from English Premier League (EPL) club Chelsea to Wolfsburg in February of last year and, following a series of injury problems in the first half of last season, really showed his class again in the second half of the campaign.

With nine goals from midfield, Schürrle was the fourth-highest scorer in the Bundesliga between January and May 2016.

--IANS

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