Revealed in Stuttgart where he left in 2016 for RB Leipzig for 23 million euros, Timo Werner (27 years old) was considered the future great scorer of German football. A timely development following the retirement of legend Miroslav Klose. If his speed and technical quality quickly made the difference, the mental aspect and his efficiency slowly raised questions. Certainly, he had 95 goals and 33 goals in 159 meetings with RB Leipzig in four seasons, which led him to sign for Chelsea for 53 million euros in the summer of 2020. However, doubts were allowed as to his explosion at the highest level. This was quickly seen on the Blues side with 23 goals and 21 goals in 89 matches where his failures gently pushed him to the substitutes’ bench in favor of Kai Havertz, who was not a specialist in the position. Nevertheless winning the 2021 Champions League, he hoped to relaunch in the summer of 2022 by returning to RB Leipzig for a check for 20 million euros.
Rather interesting during the first months of the competition, he will unfortunately get injured at the beginning of November and therefore find himself out of the 2022 World Cup. Which in the end, is perhaps not such a bad thing given the early elimination Germans from the group stage. Slowly returning to the eleven thereafter, he concluded the last exercise with 16 goals and 6 offerings in 40 matches. An honorable record, if not impressive, where he was able to win the German Cup. However, things have gotten complicated for him in recent months. Already, he has not scored in an official match since April 15, i.e. 10 matches, moreover, his status is completely changing within Marco Rose’s team. The German technician who was able to count on the summer arrivals of Loïs Openda and Benjamin Sesko particularly appreciates the two men as well as soldier Yussuf Poulsen.
Leipzig flies to the aid of Timo Werner
Faced with the good form of his competitors (2 goals in 3 matches for Benjamin Sesko and 2 goals in 4 matches for Loïs Openda in particular), Timo Werner was therefore relegated to 4th place in the hierarchy of attackers and has the lowest goal time. game (136 minutes over the first 4 matches of RB Leipzig). Against Union Berlin in a 3-0 victory for the last match before the summer break, he remained on the bench. Questioned at a press conference, Marco Rose recognized his player’s bad luck: “Timo is known for the qualities he brings to us. His pace, his depth and his ability to score goals. At the moment he doesn’t show it on the pitch as much as we would all like, but Timo has the opportunity to get back into the team here, and he can also get back into the Germany team. He now has one or two additional competitors against whom he must assert himself, but this can also benefit the club. Everyone has to show up and prove themselves.”
Sports director Max Eberl followed suit at the microphone of Bild TV : “Timo is in a bit of a crisis, he hasn’t scored a goal for a relatively long time, everything is a bit more difficult for him at the moment. We support every player. We want to get him back to the point where he can maybe score decisive goals for us again.” In the tough but well-supported area, Timo Werner must now pick up the slope. Absent from the German selection despite call-ups last March and June (he was ultimately withdrawn), Timo Werner knows that he will have to work hard. Hansi Flick nevertheless left the door open for him: “He’s not in great shape at his club and needs to work on some things. But if he does, I’m convinced he can come back.” The German striker knows that his return to form is highly anticipated by his club and his selection.
