Werner is struggling because he is not the ‘undisputed star striker’ at Chelsea – Nagelsmann

Martin Macdonald

• Updated: 19 May 2021 15:43 BST
• 2 min read

RB Leipzig head coach Julian Nagelsmann believes Timo Werner is not hitting top form at new club Chelsea because he is no longer his team’s main man like he was in the Bundesliga.

As part of a summer 2020 spending spree, Chelsea parted with £47.5 million (€54m) to sign Werner from RB Leipzig after his development into one of the most prolific forwards in Europe over the past few years.

In the 2019/20 campaign, he scored 34 goals and recorded 12 assists in 42 starts across all competitions for the German outfit, as well as playing a major part in them reaching the Champions League semi-final stage for the first time.

However, he has been unable to transfer his goalscoring exploits to the Premier League as of yet, as in 19 starts in the top flight he has found the back of the net on just four occasions.

He is currently competing for minutes in the forward positions with the likes of Olivier Giroud, Tammy Abraham, Christian Pulisic, Kai Havertz, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Hakim Ziyech.

Nagelsmann believes that Werner is still adapting to an environment where he is not considered the one major star, having held that status at RB Leipzig.

“Timo was the undisputed star striker in Leipzig for a long time, with many goals and a lot of influence on the development of the club,” he told Kicker.

“He always played there, even when he made a meter less in training. At Chelsea he is one of many stars and has to work on certain things.”

The 33-year-old does wish Werner well, though, adding:

“Timo has the quality to assert himself. I wish him that too, because he is a good guy.”

Following the dismissal of Frank Lampard as Chelsea boss in December, former PSG head coach Thomas Tuchel was brought in as his replacement at the turn of the year.

Tuchel has enjoyed a good start to life at Stamford Bridge, leading the Blues to four wins out of five games.

Werner still hasn’t scored under him, however.