Leverkusen looking to live with Schuerrle

Bayer Leverkusen coach Sascha Lewandowski said his team want to move forward with Andre Schuerrle after rejecting a Chelsea bid for him.

The Blues have had a long-running interest in the Germany forward, and recently had a bid in excess of 20m euros turned down by the BayArena outfit.

However, the 40-year-old Lewandowski is adamant that Leverkusen require a player of Schuerrle’s quality if they are to progress, and voiced his hope that he will be around to help them reach their targets.

“Andre is not the one with something to prove,” Lewandowski told Bild.

“The fact that he’s staying is a positive sign for everyone. We have huge goals, and we want to achieve them with him.”

The club’s sporting director Rudi Voller added that the offer implied Schuerrle would only get better and he hoped that would occur together with Leverkusen.

“Such an offer has to be enough of an incentive for him to get even better,” he said.

“Andre has a four-year contract. We are glad we have him. He still has great potential for development.”

Schuerrle has already represented Germany on 16 occasions and has scored seven international goals.