One year after the Chelsea failure, Werner is at the crossroads again

When he came back to Saxony and re-signed for Leipzig, Timo Werner had big expectations. And so did the fans. Chelsea decided to cut the losses and let him go three years before the end of his contact, in a transfer which left the Blues in minus of around 30 million euros. The German forward was not a regular even with his countryman Thomas Tuchel and decided to give up on a huge wage at the Stamford Bridge, and play for ‘only’ five million euros per season. Werner just wanted to play regularly for his club and secure a move to the World Cup in Qatar. But again, everything went wrong and after one year, he is still in trouble.

Just after a month after his arrival in Leipzig, Werner got a new coach, Marco Rose and he played regularly, before he got injured and missed the World Cup. He ended his first season back in Germany with 40 games played and 16 goals scored, along with six assists. What’s more important, he was the starter for the majority of games in Bundesliga, the Champions League and DFB Cup. But soon, things changed. It’s the same coach, but it’s not the same Timo. He is not injured, but he is out of form. Currently his teammate, who also arrived last year from Salzburg, Benjamin Sesko, along with an expensive Lens striker Lois Openda, and even the veteran Yussuf Poulsen are ahead of Werner. The reason? All three are training harder and playing better, according to Bild.

German flop defends his Stamford Bridge adventure

Unlike the first season, Werner is now a reserve player with only 77 of 450 minutes played in the first four Bundesliga games and at the start of the Champions League. Rose is usually brining him in as the sub in the last minutes of the match, and sometimes he doesn’t even go in at all. He was also overlooked by national manager Julian Nagelsmann, who advised the player to concentrate on his team first. But the consequences can be dire – EURO 2024 is closing in, and with this kind of form, he won’t be invited. So a transfer away from the club is an option in January 2024. But, the club is in no hurry to let him go. Loan would be out of the question, but Leipzig informally agreed that a proper offer from another club would make them think twice. If they are intrigued to sell, the price would have to bigger than the one they paid Chelsea (20 million euros). There are still 14 games in all competitions until January for Werner to show he can be a factor in Leipzig.

DFB POKAL - GERMAN CUP - 1/16 FINALS

Tuesday

20:00: (1.55) St.Pauli (4.20) Schalke (5.90)

20:00: (7.00) Homburg (4.50) Greuther Furth (1.45)

20:00: (4.70) Wolfsburg (3.70) RB Leipzig (1.75)

20:00: (1.70) Stuttgart (3.70) Union Berlin (5.10)

22:45: (5.50) Unterhaching (3.90) Fortuna Dusseldorf (1.63)

22:45: (2.95) K'lautern (3.50) Koln (2.35)

22:45: (5.30) Bielefeld (4.00) Hamburger (1.63)

22:45: (1.60) M' gladbach (4.10) Heidenheim (5.50)

Wednesday

20:00: (16.0) Sandhausen (10.0) Leverkusen (1.12)

20:00: (1.58) Dortmund (4.10) Hoffenheim (5.70)

20:00: (2.25) Holstein Kiel (3.50) Magdeburg (3.05)

20:00: (1.53) Freiburg (4.20) Paderborn (6.25)

22:45: (1.95) Nurnberg (3.50) Hansa (3.90)

22:45: (2.80) Hertha (3.40) Mainz (2.50)

22:45: (8.00) Victoria Koln (4.70) Eintr.Frankfurt (1.40)

22:45: (90.0) Saarbrucken (16.0) Bayern (1.02)

***odds are subject to change***