SCHURRLE: BRIDGE LEFT A FOWL TASTE

ANDRE SCHURRLE revealed a piece of dodgy chicken ended his Chelsea career and turned him against eating meat.

Fulham’s German World Cup winner returns today to the ground where his star shone brightly with a Premier League winner’s medal – but faded fast after he caught salmonella.

Winger Schurrle (left) was one of Fulham’s goalscoring heroes in new manager Claudio Ranieri’s first game in charge last weekend.

The 3-2 win over Southampton ended a run of seven straight defeats for the Cottagers that cost Slavisa Jokanovic his job.

Now Schurrle, on a season’s loan from Borussia Dortmund, hopes to continue his form at a ground where he started out replacing Kevin De Bruyne in 2013.

Recalling his Stamford Bridge days, the 28-year-old said: “It wasn’t as if I didn’t get a fair crack under Jose Mourinho. I got on well with him but at a club like Chelsea there were so many big players.

“It was amazing being there, then the second year it was just very difficult. I had really bad salmonella.

“I was with the national team and was the only one who caught it. To lose three, four, five kilos, it took me a really long time to get the strength back. There were days when I could not get out of bed.

“It was a bit of chicken and I’ve never eaten chicken since or much of any meat. I am almost a vegan.”