Wolfsburg admit interest in Schürrle, distance themselves from bid

We're getting to that point in January where rumours come thick and fast and not always in nice quotes. In response to the reports that misfiring winger André Schürrle had been/would be subject to a €30 million bid from Wolfsburg, whom you might remember as the place Kevin de Bruyne ended up around about this time last season, Sporting director Klaus Allofs 'has distanced his club from a £23m move for Chelsea’s Andre Schurrle, although there is interest.' So says the Daily Mail, at any rate.

Since for some reason my Googling skills are failing me today I can't track the original (presumably German) source of Allofs' quote down, so we'll have to assume that the Mail's interpretation is correct. Wolfsburg aren't bidding £23 million for André Schürrle right now. Could they later? Yes, almost certainly. If anything, a non-denial denial is a better sign that something's afoot than simply not saying anything at all.

Chelsea, of course, would need a Schürrle replacement before letting him go. Last year they turned the de Bruyne cash into Nemanja Matic, but then got surprised by the bid for Juan Mata and ended up with Mohamed Salah for some reason. If there is indeed a Schürrle deal, let's hope the planning and response looks more like the former than the latter.