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Loew praises Schuerrle development

Germany coach Joachim Loew has praised Andre Schuerrle's development at Chelsea and ruled out playing Lukas Podolski in central attack.

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23-year-old winger Andre Schuerrle moved to the Premier League from Bayer Leverkusen in the summer of 2013.

In his debut season at Stamford Bridge, the Germany international made 30 appearances and scored eight goals, three of them coming in only 17 minutes during the 3-1 win at Fulham.

"That year in England has done Schuerrle really, really good," Loew told a news conference in Germany's World Cup training camp in South Tyrol on Monday.

"You can see it in his appearance and his confidence. He's played in quite a few big games for Chelsea. He's become more physical."

On Sunday, in a test match against the German under-20 team, Schuerrle scored four goals as Loew's team won 7-1 over 80 minutes, which were divided into 4 quarters.

"He's made a good impression in training and in the match," Loew said.

While it is still unclear who will play in central attack for Germany in Brazil, Loew ruled out that Arsenal attacker Lukas Podolski will be handed that role.

"Podolski is capable of playing as a striker, but we have other types of players more suitable for playing up front," he said. "He is better when he faces goal. His huge quality are his pace, his power and he needs to get into positions where he can play out his shooting power."