With a “new” manager, Chelsea have been scouring the market for the latest high-quality players to repeat the success of Jose Mourinho’s previous spell as boss. Two major signings have arrived so far – André Schürrle from Bayer Leverkusen and Marco van Ginkel from Vitesse Arnhem.
André Schürrle is a German winger/forward who has been widely touted as the next world-class star having played 65 times for Leverkusen since 2011. He has signed for Chelsea on a five-year contract after the two clubs agreed a fee reported to be £18 million. The 20 year-old has already been capped 24 times by his German national side since 2010 having scored seven goals. He is an incredible talent with electric pace. Ex-Liverpool defender Sami Hyypiä, now Manager of Schürrle’s former club Bayer Leverkusen, has praised his work rate, mentioning that he was instrumental to the Lions’ successes. He usually played as a left-winger for Leverkusen and occasionally played as a second striker. One of his key assets is his long-distance sprinting on the counter-attack and his excellent fitness levels. As Hyypiä said, his work-rate is admirable and he is unbelievably quick.
He is widely-known for his finishing ability. I’d recommend to all fantasy football fans to sign him for your team as he will be very likely to create many assists for his Chelsea team-mates. He is sure to do well under Jose Mourinho as all new players seem to have done so in the past. However, with Hazard, Oscar and Mata as Chelsea’s stars, Schurrle may find it difficult to break into the team.
Chelsea’s other new signing is Dutch international midfielder Marco van Ginkel from Vitesse Arnhem. The 20-year-old signed on a five-year contract for a transfer fee of around £8 million on 3rd July. At Vitesse, van Ginkel played 93 times since 2010 scoring 18 goals and eight assists. Last season, he picked up the Dutch Talent of the Year award and was capped by Louis Van Gaal’s Netherlands. He also only picked up four yellow cards last season for Vitesse which takes some doing as a centre-midfielder. Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho, however, did use the word “kid” when asked about van Ginkel’s prospects in London. This suggests that the Dutch midfielder won’t walk into the first-team for at least another season. Therefore I believe it would be quite risky for Fantasy Football managers to sign him for their team. This would be because he would only have a few rare appearances, likely to be as a substitution. Although, I expect him to be cheap because of his age so it might be worthwhile thinking about him.
Chelsea’s last signing of the window so far was ex-Fulham goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer who signed on a one-year deal as back-up to Petr Cech. Chelsea released back-up keepers Ross Turnbull and Henrique Hilario at the end of last season, therefore the former Champions League champions needed cover for 3rd captain Cech. Not only will Schwarzer provide Chelsea with some cover between the sticks, but he’ll provide Cech with some essential competition. In terms of Fantasy Football, I doubt any manager will want to race to add Schwarzer’s talent to their squad as I doubt he’ll be making more than a handful of appearances. On the other hand, if Cech picks up a long-term injury, Schwarzer will be getting some good game time, which may be a good thing because Schwarzer will almost certainly be a cheap buy.
Thanks for reading! You can follow me on twitter @EthanRFC. Give the site a follow while you’re at it – @LastWordOnSport.
Feel free to discuss this and other footy related articles with thousands of fans at r/football or with our new IRC football Chat.
Interested in writing for LastWordOnSports? Find more info at our “Join Our Team” page.
Main Photo Credit: thelocal.de, CC