Chelsea had a bid for the Bayer Leverkusen winger turned down recently.

Schurrle told Kicker: "I don't think you would find any player in the Bundesliga who would say that they would not at all be interested.

"Chelsea would have been very interesting for me. You don't get a chance like that very often in your life.

"[Director of sport] Rudi Völler has explained the reasoning to me several times.

"They could not find a suitable replacement and I am too important to Bayer."