Why Chelsea need to sell Werner this summer
Cameron Smith
- Updated: 27 Mar 2022 13:41 BST
- 5 min read
Frank Lampard had finally signed his man. Chelsea had beaten Liverpool in the race. The Blues had secured the goal-scorer they needed to go from top four contenders to title challengers.
Timo Werner was that man. But, the emphasis is on the word "was," because he is certainly not that same man now.
28 goals and eight assists in his final Bundesliga campaign for RB Leipzig caught the attention of every elite side in Europe, and thanks to personal phone calls between Werner and Lampard, Chelsea were able to cross the finish line first to win the race for the speedster.
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Devastating on the counter-attack, with the burst of pace needed to unlock a defence, Werner was antithesis of Olivier Giroud, the man who had ended the 2019/20 season as Chelsea's first choice striker.
The Frenchman was a facilitator for Willian and Christian Pulisic, while Werner was brought in to play a dynamic role of fluidity with Pulisic and Kai Havertz. The expectation was that he'd score a hatful of goals and push Chelsea ever-closer to a first Premier League trophy since Antonio Conte's departure. The reality was that Chelsea had spent €53 million (£47.5m) but were no closer to finding a natural goal-scorer akin to Diego Costa, who by this time was long gone.
Werner may have played a key role in the Blues' Champions League win, which certainly can't be overstated, but his off-the-ball contribution was arguably far more impressive and valuable than everything he did on-the-ball - not what you want from your centre-forward.
Thomas Tuchel was undoubtedly high on the Chelsea board's list of replacements for Lampard anyway, but the fact he was German may have pushed his case right to the very front.
Chelsea had spent a large sum of money on German forwards but they weren't performing, so a solution was needed. While Tuchel has helped Kai Havertz ever so slowly come out of his shell on the pitch, to now be the expressive, elegant player he was at Bayer Leverkusen, the same success hasn't occurred with Werner.
Instead the forward has looked more and more out of place with every passing week. It's not for the want of trying, Werner is clearly someone with a desire to impress, but his spell at Chelsea just doesn't look like it'll turn a corner and improve.
This campaign was been yet more proof of that. Romelu Lukaku was signed for a club record fee to be the man Werner was mean to be, the elite goal-scorer Chelsea needed, and although it hasn't worked out for the Belgian, he's pushed Werner down the pecking order.
In fact, the former RB Leizpig man has started just eight Premier League games this season, way down on the 29 he managed last year. While there's still a fair proportion of the season to go, it doesn't look like Werner will become a regular, with his form subpar, and reaching double digits for league starts could only just be achieved.
First of all it doesn't suggest Tuchel sees Werner in his long-term plans, and it also shows he's perhaps given up hope the forward will rediscover his golden touch.
During his final year at Leipzig, Werner was massively overperforming his expected goals tally. Based off the quality of chances he received, he should've scored 22.4 goals, but he of course netted 28. However, that's completely flipped in England, and his finishing is way off, rather than being exceptional. He scored half the amount of league goals he should've last term (six actual goals and 11.9 xG), while that's fallen further to over one third this year (one actual goal and 3.6 xG).
Not only is his goal-scoring wayward, but his overall play and ability to negate the issues of a deep block don't match what Tuchel needs.
The only option is to sell this summer, and his recent comments back this point up.
Werner wants a fresh start
While he has struggled for form at Chelsea, Werner has still consistently scored goals for the Germany national team. His recent goal against Israel means it's now 21 goals in 47 caps for his nation; a far more impressive rate than his spell at Chelsea.
He spoke after Germany's victory over Israel, and discussed why he thrives when playing international football. "I'm a striker and always want to score," he said. "Things aren't going the way I'd like at Chelsea, so it's all the better that things are going well here under Hansi Flick."
Flick has won all eight of his games as Germany manager, and Werner has scored six goals during that time, proving his worth under the former Bayern Munich head coach.
"I really enjoy playing football, no matter where I'm playing. There are differences in the style of play between football at Chelsea and here," Werner continued. "Maybe the one at the national team suits me better. Here, I always have scoring chances, I can score goals. I feel very comfortable here."
Although Werner hasn't explicitly said he wishes to leave Chelsea, his comments suggest he is thinking about his future. With the fact "things aren't going the way I'd like at Chelsea" it's hard to imagine the player stays at Stamford Bridge for much longer.
Where would he go?
According to Sky Germany, Borussia Dortmund are considering making an offer for the forward, in a bid to bring him back to the Bundesliga. His pace on the counter-attack, and excellence in open spaces would suit not only the division, as it has previously, but also Dortmund themselves.
Erling Haaland looks set to leave, and so Werner would fill that void perfectly.
The only issuse is that Dortmund appear to have wrapped up a deal for RB Salzburg forward Karim Adeyemi, who is remarkably similar to Werner in regards to his threat on the break.
But, Chelsea need to find a buyer because Werner doesn't look good enough to mount a title charge, and they need to free up funds for their summer transfer activity.
