LAST UPDATE | 18 Jul 2020
GERMANY WINGER ANDRE Schürrle has announced his retirement, aged just 29, as the 2014 World Cup winner opened up on his experiences of professional football.
On Wednesday, Borussia Dortmund cancelled the former Chelsea player’s contract by mutual consent with a year left to run and Schürrle said the decision to retire “has long been maturing in me”.
“You always have to play a certain role to survive in the business, otherwise you’ll lose your job and won’t get another one,” Schürrle told Der Spiegel magazine.
“Only performance on the pitch counts. Vulnerability and weakness shouldn’t exist at any time,” he added, having come to the conclusion: “I don’t need any more applause”.
It was Schürrle’s extra-time cross in the 2014 World Cup final which Mario Götze volleyed home to seal Germany’s 1-0 win over Argentina.
Schürrle said Brazil 2014 was “the best time of my life” and saw being with the German national team as a safe haven.
“It was an escape from the rut that you have at your club every day,” he said.
However, he admits he “fell into a deep hole” playing under Jose Mourinho during his two years at Stamford Bridge from 2013 until 2015.
“I didn’t want to play football anymore. I was completely finished,” Schürrle revealed.
He returned to the Bundesliga in 2015 with Wolfsburg and a year later joined Dortmund for €30million, but it was not a successful move.
After failing to win a first-team place and picking up injuries, Schürrle was loaned out to Spartak Moscow last season after spending the 2018/19 season at Fulham.
As far back as 2015 at Wolfsburg, he had thoughts of “throwing everything away” and again came close to retiring at Dortmund when twice sidelined by injury in 2017.
“The social expectation is that you can’t really stop until in your mid-30s,” he added.
The German media often refered to Schürrle as a “discarded world champion”, which hit him hard.
“There were things that I took very much to heart. You’re either a fool or a hero. There is nothing in between,” added Schürrle, who made 57 appearances and scored 22 goals for Germany.
He says he will take his time to decide on his future career and admits “all the money I have earned is a huge relief”.
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