Timo Werner back at Leipzig after disappointing stint at Chelsea

Just over three months from the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, German striker Timo Werner returns to Leipzig, the eastern German club announced on Tuesday, where he hopes to end his blues in front of goal after two disappointing seasons at Chelsea. Werner, 26, has signed a contract until 2026 and will return to “his familiar number” of number 11, the club said in a statement. Transferred to Chelsea for 53 million euros in the summer of 2020, he scored only 23 goals in 87 matches played, under German coach Thomas Tuchel from January 2021.

His return to Saxony is estimated between 30 and 35 million by the German press. At Chelsea, Werner won the 2021 Champions League, a competition in which he scored four goals and provided two assists in 12 appearances. In the semi-finals, he scored the decisive goal against Real Madrid to propel his team into the final, his only coup with the Blues. He had joined the banks of the Thames in June 2020, thus not participating in the end of the great adventure in the Champions League of Leipzig, semi-finalist beaten by Paris SG.

Too many attacking sectors in Leipzig

Affected by Covid-19, injured or simply left on the bench by Tuchel, Timo Werner was only used 21 times (15 starts) in the Premier League with Chelsea last season. He needs playing time, claimed German coach Hansi Flick in June, especially in a World Cup year, where Germany relies heavily on him as a center forward. Germany has always equated attacking efficiency with the presence of a real goalscorer, from Uwe Seeler and Gerd Müller in the post-war period to Rüdi Völler, Jürgen Klinsmann or Miroslav Klose more recently.

Presented on his debut in 2017 as Germany’s future top scorer, the former Leipzig player has not confirmed in this role: he currently has 24 goals in 53 selections. His double against Italy (5-2 victory) in the League of Nations in June reassured Germany a little. Back in Leipzig, he will reinforce a plethoric offensive sector, between the Frenchman Christopher Nkunku, the Spaniard Dani Olmo and the Portuguese André Silva, and will participate in the Champions League from September.