Should Chelsea cash in on Atleti's interest in Werner?

Stefan Bienkowski

• 4 Oct 2021 08:43 BST
• 7 min read

Timo Werner may have bagged a goal against Southampton on Saturday but that wasn’t enough to dispel the growing rumours of his future at Chelsea.

According to Transfer Market Web, the Germany international is a transfer target for Spanish giants Atletico Madrid and could be sold if Chelsea can get a decent price for the striker.

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So how likely are Chelsea to cut their losses with the former RB Leipzig star and what would they get for Werner if they did sell him in the next 12 months?

Do they still need him?

While Werner’s confidence may have been knocked by the signing of Romelu Lukaku from Inter in the summer, there’s still plenty of evidence to suggest that the German forward is still a key member of Tuchel’s side.

For example, Werner has started three of Chelsea’s first seven Premier League games, along with the team’s clashes in the League Cup and Super Cup final. And while his goal scoring record is hardly much better than last season, he still bagged important goals in the League Cup clash against Aston Villa and the weekend’s 3-1 win over Southampton.

Add to that an assist against Tottenham Hotspur a few weeks ago and there’s certainly some grounds to suggest that Werner is actually performing perfectly well and has so far been of more use to Tuchel than other forwards, such as Kai Havertz and Hakim Ziyech.

How much could Chelsea sell Werner for?

If Chelsea decided that Werner’s form this season hasn’t been good enough, they would still be in a strong position to make a decent amount of money off him in January or the following summer transfer window.

This is largely down to the fact that Werner is still only 25 years of age and has already proved to be an exceptional goalscorer in the German Bundesliga with RB Leipzig. As such, a club like Atletico would likely have little concern over his ability to find the back of the net in La Liga.

Having joined the club last year for €53 million and with a contract at Chelsea that still runs until 2025, the Stamford Bridge side would likely value Werner at €73 million and would probably expect to make that kind of amount of him if a club were serious about signing him.