Former Chelsea player Andre Schürrle reveals battle with debilitating muscle condition

As far as I can tell, this is the first time that Andre Schurrle has decided to reveal a bit more detail about the condition that was so clearly affecting his fitness and energy levels even before his transfer to Wolfsburg last season.

Andre's first 12 months at Chelsea were almost like a Hollywood movie script.  As we remarked often at the time, he was basically living every fan's personal dream come true.  He was a Chelsea fan, a very enthusiastic one at that, who got to move to London with his girlfriend and dog and play for his favorite team not just on FIFA/FM but in real life, too!  His direct style and nose for goal offered something different than what others in the squad could provide, and while the likes of Juan Mata and Kevin De Bruyne were deemed surplus to requirements, Schürrle came up huge multiple times.  With 8 goals in the league, he was our joint-third leading goalscorer even.

The cherry on top of the icing on the Chelsea cake was the winger's super-sub role for Germany at the 2014 World Cup, which culminated in the trophy-winning assist he provided for Mario Götze.  The world was Schürrle's oyster.  Fan favorite, World Cup winner, playing for the Premier League title favorites.  Last season started as well as anyone could've hoped for, too, with a goal of the season candidate coming in the first match against Burnley thanks to a jaw-dropping assist from new signing Cesc Fàbregas.

But then... something happened.

No one really knows what exactly though.  Schürrle battled some sort of illness for a short while, but he never quite recovered his form and that's not something that could be explained by what was assumed to be just a common ailment.  There were always some concerns about his strength and fitness, in general, but after that point, he never quite seemed to get his verve back.  A few bad games followed, and with Willian rising to the fore, Schürrle found himself on the bench more and more often.  And then, just as suddenly as he rose to stardom, he was gone back to Germany.  Where, it should be said, he hasn't really turned his prospects around drastically, though he does remain a Joachim Löw favorite for the German national team.

The 24-year-old winger has mostly kept mum on all this, but a few days ago, he decided to reveal a few additional details about the non-football things that have been affecting his career.

"I have a [misalignment/problem/deformity], which affects my muscles. With the consequence that they [harden/stiffen] more easily. My muscles in the buttocks and thigh area are repeatedly blocked, which was partly due to a vertebral problem in the back. By hardening I could no longer perform certain movements without pain and could no longer sprint properly."

-André Schürrle; source: Sport Bild via Google Translate

Plenty of issues with that translation, I'm guessing — unfortunately, the efforts of the Star and London 24 aren't any better.  So that's hindering my efforts to try to reveal this mystery at least a tiny bit, but in some ways, it sounds fairly ominous.  There are lots of very scary muscle diseases that start with similar symptoms, for example, though one can only hope it's just some weird stiffness issue.  Or maybe a pinched nerve or some other condition that can be eased and managed.

"[Treatments/injections?] have helped me...  When I'm 100 per cent fit, I have my liveliness..."

-André Schürrle; source: Sport Bild via Google Translate

Schurrle has started roughly half of Wolfsburg's matches this season and completed 90 minutes last weekend for the first time all season.  So perhaps things are finally looking up.  Regardless, it sounds like he's not having the happiest of times.

As seemingly everyone in world football has to opine nowadays, Schürrle was also recently asked about Chelsea's struggles, with club sitting near the foot of the Premier League table two months into the seaseon.

"I am not happy that Chelsea is in this position. I still like this club and the players because I am still in touch with them. I am not happy that they are there. But I think with their quality and with this manager they will get back to the top."

-André Schürrle; source: Goal

With Wolfsburg also struggling recently (four straight without a win), and with a muscle condition to boot, Andre certainly has plenty to worry about at the moment...