Rafa Benitez has admitted he tried to raid former club Chelsea to sign Andre Schurrle before the midfielder joined Wolfsburg in January . The Napoli manager , who won the Europa League as Blues boss in 2013 , will see his side line up against the German outfit in the quarter-finals of the competition on Thursday . As well as Schurrle , Benitez also admitted to trying to sign Ivan Perisic and Luiz Gustavo before their January departures to Wolfsburg from Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich respectively . Napoli boss Rafael Benitez takes charge of training at the Wolfsburg Arena . Gonzalo Higuain works with the ball ahead of the Europa League quarter-final at the Wolfsburg Arena . Lorenzo Insigne performs during the training session on the eve of the quarter-final . Dynamo Kiev vs Fiorentina . Club Bruges vs Dnipro . Sevilla vs Zenit . Wolfsburg vs Napoli . All kick-offs 8.05pm BST . 'It ’ s true we tracked Luiz Gustavo , Ivan Perisic and Andre Schurrle for a long time , but it was not possible to sign them , ' Benitez said . 'Wolfsburg are a strong side with huge potential , so we will give 100 per cent in this difficult game . ' Napoli travel to Wolfsburg for the first leg of the quarter-final and Benitez also added that his team had more character than his Europa League winning Chelsea team , as well as his Liverpool outfit who won the Champions League in 2005 . 'Looking at the character , this is perhaps the best team I 've ever had , Benitez said . 'They are excellent professionals . My team are ready for this and hopefully we 'll have the killer instinct which is missing sometimes . Wolfsburg striker Nicklas Bendtner tests his agility during a training session before the European tie . Former Chelsea midfielder Kevin de Bruyne also trained with Wolfsburg . Luiz Gustavo , linked with a January move to Napoli , trains on the eve of the Europa League tie for Wolfsburg . 'Wolfsburg have a physically strong team so we have to look at ourselves , show our quality on the pitch . 'Many of Wolfsburg 's players could easily slot into our team . They have a lot of quality and that 's why we will show them as much respect as they deserve . With Tottenham , Liverpool and Everton having already been dumped out , there are no English teams in the last eight as Dynamo Kiev face Fiorentina , Club Bruges take on Dnipro and holders Sevilla host Zenit . Andre Schurrle was a target for Rafa Benitez before the German midfielder left Chelsea to join Wolfsburg . Here he reaches for the ball in a league game against Stuttgart earlier in April . Benitez takes his Napoli side to Wolfsburg for a Europa League quarter-final , with the former Chelsea boss winning the competition with the Blues in 2013 .
Andre Schurrle joined Wolfsburg from Chelsea in January for £24m . Rafa Benitez admitted he wanted to sign Germany international . Ex Chelsea and Liverpool boss also tracked Luiz Gustavo & Ivan Perisic . Napoli face Wolfsburg in Europa League quarter-finals on Thursday .