Roberto Di Matteo said goodbye to new Chelsea with Timo Werner and revealed that he had twice attempted to attack the Germany forward.
Werner – who became one of Europe’s most prolific scorers in RB Leipzig, scoring 93 goals in 158 games – signed a five-year deal with Chelsea earlier this month.
The 24-year-old has been heavily tied to a move for new Premier League champions Liverpool, but Chelsea have beaten their rivals for a deal, with Werner arriving in Stamford Bridge in July.
Former Chelsea midfielder and manager Di Matteo admits he is a “big fan” of Werner and claims to have tried twice to sign the striker when he was in command of Schalke and Aston Villa.
“When I was at Schalke, he was in Stuttgart and had just arrived on the scene,” said Di Matteo, who won the Champions League and the FA Cup while Chelsea manager.
‘During the second half of the season, before leaving, I was planning with my sports director.
‘I was saying I wanted to sign this guy, he’s good. He was young, fast, technically good. I said “we can’t sign this guy Timo”.
‘In the end we didn’t do it and then I resigned and so on. Then I went to Villa. Stuttgart, the following season, were demoted, and so I asked again to sign it, but then Leipzig signed. “
Di Matteo added: ‘I am a huge fan of yours and it has been developed very, very well.
“He is a top scorer, he scores goals, so he can guarantee a certain number of goals for the team, which is very good, and he is also very fast, he is fast.”
Chelsea, fourth in the Premier League, face Leicester City in the FA Cup on Sunday.
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