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Former Chelsea forward Timo Werner has lifted the lid on his exit from Chelsea, revealing that he needed to leave the Blues and return to Germany to “get the enjoyment again”.
Chelsea paid £47.5m to sign the rapid striker from RB Leipzig in June 2020, snatching the attacker from under the noses of Premier League rivals Liverpool, who had expected to bring Werner to Anfield.
However, Werner never really managed to recapture the prolific form he showed in the Bundesliga and after just two years at Stamford Bridge, the 26-year-old returned to Die Roten Bullen for a fee believe to be in the region of £25m.
Werner picks out forgetful Tuchel as a problem
In an interview with UK publication The Sun in the lead-up to RB Leipzig’s clash with Manchester City in the Champions League, Werner spoke about his final days at Chelsea suggesting that Tuchel’s lack of faith in him contributed to his eventual exit, saying:
‘The biggest problem was he (Tuchel) put a striker like Lukaku in front of me in the second season after I won the Champions League by nearly playing every game in the first squad.
‘When you come from the kind of success I had in Germany or with Chelsea – playing nearly every game in the first season, winning the Champions League in 2021, scoring in the semi-final against Real Madrid, making a lot of goals.
‘Then all this gets a little bit forgotten by the manager, it was not really fair. That was also a reason I had to move back to Leipzig, to get the enjoyment again.
‘I didn’t feel that any more but you need it to be successful.
‘In the end a manager likes some players more than others – it’s completely normal and you have to accept that. Maybe yes, in the end I just wanted out.’
After Chelsea’s unexpected success in the Champions League with Timo Werner central, the Blues decided to splash out a club-record £98m on Romelu Lukaku, a move which marginalised Werner’s role in the team.
However, Werner had scored just six times in 35 Premier League appearances during his maiden campaign in England, a haul that makes the Blues’ pursuit of a more-prolific option in attack all the more understandable.
🗣 Timo Werner: “The biggest problem was Tuchel put a striker like Romelu Lukaku in front of me after I won the #UCL by playing nearly every game.
It was tough to get a good player in front of me for €120m. He had to play after costing so much and I didn’t feel honoured enough” pic.twitter.com/03acVvMsbm
— CFC-Blues (@CFCBlues_com) February 21, 2023
Werner rebuilding reputation back in his homeland
With Lukaku made first choice by Thomas Tuchel, Timo Werner started just 15 times in the Premier League over the course of the 2021/22 campaign, netting just four times during a hugely-disappointing second season with the Londoners.
When the summer window opened, Werner pushed for a move and he sealed a move back to RB Leipzig in August 2022. The German international marked his second debut for the club with a goal against FC Koln and Werner has scored eight times in 18 starts in all competitions overall since his return.
The Stuttgart-born attacker will relish the opportunity to show what he can do against Manchester City in the Champions League on Wednesday evening. The ex-Chelsea man is expected to start on the left-hand-side with Blues’ bound Christopher Nkunku just inside him at number ten.
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