Borussia Dortmund have confirmed Andre Schurrle was allowed to miss their clash with Manchester City to enter talks over a potential move.
Germany international Schurrle was an unused substitute in his side's 1-0 International Champions Cup win at Soldier Field in Chicago.
But the 27-year-old's appearance in a Dortmund tracksuit after the game may prove to be his last appearance in the club's colours, as it was acknowledged that he looks set to move on.
“Of course, we won’t tell you which club it is,” a team spokesman said. “He is released for talks for another club.”
Bild reported Dortmund would like to sign Crystal Palace forward Wilifried Zaha, and that the Premier League side expressed an interest in acquiring Schurrle as part of the exchange.
Schurrle, 27, was a member of Germany’s 2014 World Cup winning team. He set up the winning goal by Dortmund’s Mario Gotze in the 1-0 extra time victory over Argentina.
He played most of two seasons with Chelsea in the Premier League after joining from Bayer Leverkusen in 2013 and scored 11 goals in 44 appearances before heading back to Germany to join Wolfsburg.
After 18 months with the Volkswagen Arena team, he transferred to Dortmund in July 2016 and has played 33 games since, scoring three times.
Schurrle was linked to a return to the Premier League in January, with both West Brom and Swansea said showing an interest, while Inter reportedly considered luring him to Serie A.
Zaha, who scored 16 goals over the last two seasons at Palace, could add some punch to a Dortmund attack that suffered when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang transferred to Arsenal after scoring 98 goals in 144 games
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