Voller: Schurrle will stay at Bayer Leverkusen

In an interview out of Germany today, Bayer Leverkusen general manager Rudi Voller definitely poured some icy cold water on any thoughts of Andre Schurrle moving to Chelsea. According to Voller:

There is no alternative to the decision of not selling Andre Schurrle, we are unable to sign a replacement. Those adequate players that are available are too expensive and therefore we would be forced to sign a weaker player that is overpriced. The matter is over with and I have also told Andre so. We have not received any new bid from Chelsea for Andre Schurrle, and we really do not want to talk about this topic anymore.

That seems pretty cut and dried. It sounds like Schurrle was open to the idea of moving to Chelsea and Leverkusen would consider it if there was a reasonable alternative out there. They've clearly investigated the market and don't feel there is an alternative that would be a reasonable replacement at a reasonable cost. As a team without pressing financial issues, it's really hard to find fault with that logic.

I didn't put much stock in the Oscar "news" of about 10 minutes ago, but this seems to be far more decisive. It would also make some sense that we are again being linked to Willian, as he would be a reasonable (and in my eyes superior) alternative to the German. It's certainly possible that Schurrle pressures Leverkusen into re-considering, but at this point I'd be extremely surprised if they do.