Bayern legend labels Werner's lack of goals as Germany's biggest problem

Stefan Bienkowski

• 19 Jun 2021 07:01 CDT
• 3 min read

Former Bayern Munich star Stefan Effenberg has suggested that Germany’s lack of a genuine goalscorer could be the nation’s “biggest problem” at Euro 2020.

Jogi Low’s side kicked off the summer’s competition with a tepid 1-0 defeat to France last week, with the German national team manager opting for an unorthodox system that played no recognised striker.

Instead of starting Chelsea’s Timo Werner or Kevin Volland of Monaco, Low instead played Thomas Muller as a false no.9, with wingers Kai Havertz and Serge Gnabry running off the Bayern forward.

Germany struggled to create clear-cut goal scoring chances against the French and as such, fans of the national team have begun calling for Low to play more recognised strikers.

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However, Effenberg believes that won’t be an easy problem for Low to fisk since the likes of Werner and Volland simply aren’t good enough.

"Almost all competitors and especially the top nations have at least one massive center forward," said the 52-year-old in his column for t-online.

"We're the only one among the top nations at the European Championship that doesn't have a center forward of international stature without me wanting to offend Kevin Volland or other players.

"To be honest, we haven't had anyone since Miroslav Klose - at least not one who was undisputed in this position and guaranteed us goals."

He added: "In truth, this is the biggest problem in German football."

Can Werner prove himself at Chelsea next season?

With just 12 goals in 52 games for Chelsea last season, there’s no doubt that the former RB Leipzig star didn’t put the ball in the back of the net for his new club at the first time of trying.

However, there’s still plenty of room for optimism with regards to Werner’s standing at Chelsea.

There’s no doubt that new manager Thomas Tuchel is a big fan of the German international and while he may not have scored enough goals, he did make up for it with no less than 15 assists in all competitions.

Werner may never be the bonafide goalscorer Chelsea - and Germany - want but his all-round game has certainly been an asset for the Stamford Bridge side this season and should only improve after the summer.