A dodgy piece of chicken ended my Chelsea career

Andre Schurrle on tummy bugs, being pals with Jose and his return to the Bridge

FULHAM forward Andre Schurrle has blamed a piece of dodgy chicken for the premature end to his Chelsea career under Jose Mourinho.

The former Germany international has revealed he contracted salmonella while in Poland for a Euros qualifier in October 2014 — just three months before he was sold by Chelsea.

Schurrle, who returns to Stamford Bridge with Fulham today for the first time since his departure, began the 2014-15 season strongly having returned from a triumphant World Cup. He started four of Chelsea’s first seven League games before going on international duty.

‘In my first year I was really happy,’ said Schurrle. ‘I started half the games or a little bit more. I had quite good stats, I scored important goals. Confidence from the manager too. Then the second year in the first half it was very difficult. I had bad salmonella. It was with the national team, in Poland. The next day we flew back and I was gone.’

Schurrle missed Chelsea’s next League game, against Crystal Palace. Reports at the time said he was suffering from flu. He was not.

‘We didn’t find out for a week so I was just at home being sick and really feeling like I couldn’t get out of bed,’ he added. ‘Then we found out it was salmonella.

‘I was getting really weak. You see how skinny I am, so to lose three, four, five kilos … I did not have any strength and it took a long time to get the strength back. I never got the chance to prove myself being back 100 per cent. That was when I got the opportunity to go back to Germany and he let me go. I’ve never eaten chicken since.’

Schurrle would start only one of the next 15 League games, and he was dragged off at half-time in that. In January he was gone, sold to Wolfsburg for £22million.

There were no hard feelings between Schurrle and Mourinho, though. In fact, Mourinho texted Schurrle twice following the move, once to congratulate him on becoming a League Cup winner when Chelsea won the competition later in the season and then to tell him he was a ‘Champion of England’.

Because Schurrle had made more than five appearances, he was in line for a Premier League medal. He keeps it at his parents’ house alongside his World Cup medal. ‘It was a nice gesture,’ he says.

Now, Schurrle returns with Fulham — on a two-year loan from Borussia Dortmund even though he is still their £23m record signing. Despite the intensity of a relegation battle, Schurrle feels more at ease here than he did at Dortmund, where the pressure was more financial.

‘It was maybe not that much on my shoulders but everybody looked at me, the media and the fans as well: “They paid €30m for this guy, let’s see what he can do”. Then you have a couple of bad games or you have injuries like I had in Dortmund. The media was not really on my side, the fans as well because they wanted to get more out of me because I cost that much.

‘Now it’s completely different. I come to Fulham on loan. I’m just here to play football and they see that I want to give everything. I heard my song in the first game and I could feel myself getting confidence I needed for my game.’

And what about his old boss Jose? Will he be able to turn things around amid pressure at United?

‘I hope so and I think so because he is a great manager and has a lot of experience and knows what he needs to do to be successful and that’s what he’s shown in every club so I think he will be good.’