Football
Stephan Uersfeld, Germany correspondent 8y

Andre Schurrle quiet on Liverpool talk as Wolfsburg plan overhaul

Wolfsburg forward Andre Schurrle has refused to be drawn on speculation he could join Liverpool this summer.

Germany international Schurrle, 25, joined Wolfsburg in February 2015 after an 18-month spell in the Premier League with Chelsea.

However, the former Bayer Leverkusen star has not lived up to expectations with Die Wolfe, scoring only seven goals in 40 Bundesliga appearances for Dieter Hecking's side, who have endured a poor season and are currently 10th in the table.

Wolfsburg sporting director Klaus Allofs has hinted that the 2015 DFB Pokal winners are set to overhaul the squad this summer and there has been speculation that Schurrle could be sold to Liverpool or Tottenham, with the player admitting last weekend: "We have to talk about the future."

However, when asked specifically about the Liverpool rumours, Schurrle told Bild: "I have not heard anything about it. It's not my style to join in with the speculation.

"The European Championships are coming up. I want to play well in the three final matches for Wolfsburg -- that's my focus. We'll see what happens after that. The sporting director has talked about a squad overhaul, and allegedly I am part of that. You need to see what happens."

Schurrle, who has scored six of his goals since the turn of the year despite the club's poor form, also stressed that he is under contract until 2019 and that it is "too early" to think about transfer.

Wolfsburg have already terminated striker Nicklas Bendtner's contract and fellow attackers Max Kruse and Bas Dost are also being tipped to depart.

Left-back Ricardo Rodriguez and midfielder Luiz Gustavo both have release clauses in their contracts, with the former having been linked with Real Madrid and the latter tipped for a move to Chinese club Guangzhou Evergrande. 

Brazilian centre-back Naldo, meanwhile, has been linked with Manchester United in recent weeks. 

Allofs is aware that the re-building process won't be easy as Wolfsburg, who finished runners-up to Bayern Munich last season, will not be able to offer Champions League football next term.

"That's indeed a crucial factor for a few players -- we all know that," the sporting director told kicker.

However, he said the fact players including Edin Dzeko, Mario Mandzukic and Kevin De Bruyne had built their careers at the Volkswagen Arena was a strong selling point.

He said: "Many players have seen that Wolfsburg can be an important and deciding stop in their career, so we won't have the problem that we won't get any players -- quite the opposite."

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