Like so many big-money Chelsea forwards before him, Timo Werner has called time on a disappointing stint at Stamford Bridge.
Sure, Werner would lift the Champions League, FIFA Club World Cup and European Super Cup with the London outfit, but his record of 10 Premier League goals across two seasons ensured his time in the capital was not an individual success.
He returned to RB Leipzig in a £25.3m deal on Tuesday as Chelsea took a hefty loss on a player who arrived with the reputation as being one of the most prolific forwards in the Bundesliga. Attracting interest from Liverpool, Bayern Munich and Atletico Madrid, it was seen as something of a coup when the Blues clinched his signature by activating his £47.5m release clause in June 2020.
And having seen the Reds heavily linked with Werner throughout the 2019/20 season, with the Germany international even reportedly holding talks with Jurgen Klopp and speaking publicly about his admiration for his compatriot and his side in the midst of such speculation, it was perceived as a blow to Liverpool’s title hopes when they weren’t the ones unveiling his signing.
In truth, they had looked highly likely to sign Werner for most of the campaign, but then the coronavirus pandemic struck, football was postponed and the Reds’ transfer plans had to change. Keeping their powder dry due to the financial ramifications of the global crisis, they were left unable to move for Werner at the time as Chelsea instead swooped.
With his release clause set to expire that summer, neither player nor club were in a position to wait and Klopp missed out as a result. Instead, Liverpool waited until September before bringing in Diogo Jota from Wolves in a £45m deal, with the Portuguese’s success at Anfield, winning two trophies, which both came at Werner and Chelsea’s expense, and scoring 34 goals ensuring they ultimately have had no regrets.
And while the German will have no regrets himself, publicly at least, he knows his move to Stamford Bridge, despite the silverware, did not live up to expectations.
Reportedly paid a significantly higher wage than he could have hoped for on Merseyside, said to be worth over £270,000 a week, Werner would score eight goals from his first 12 appearances in all competitions for the club. But the goals soon dried up, as he found them hard to come by in the Premier League, and his confidence dropped as a result.
Losing favour following Thomas Tuchel’s appointment in January 2021, the £97.5m club-record signing of Romelu Lukaku, who also flopped back at Stamford Bridge, did not help matters.
Having started 44 of his 52 appearances in his first season in the capital, scoring 12 goals including a vital strike in the Champions League semi-finals against Real Madrid, that number would drop to 24 starts from Werner's 37 outings in 2021/22. During Chelsea's pre-season tour of the United States, he hinted he could be happier elsewhere as a result, with boss Tuchel responding: "I would be one of the happiest people on the planet having a contract with Chelsea."
With his future the subject of speculation, Werner was left out of the Chelsea squad for their Premier League opener away at Everton last weekemd as Leipzig opened transfer talks regarding a loan move, only to find the Londoners open to selling him permanently. Once, one of the most sought-after forwards in Europe when departing the Bundesliga, it’s a very different story as he now returns to from whence he came.
Werner was thought to be an incredibly popular player behind the scenes at Stamford Bridge, with there a recognition that he tried incredibly hard both from inside the dressing and on the terraces. Under pressure and facing criticism, his effort earned him the admiration of supporters as a result, but he couldn’t escape the simple fact that he never scored enough goals.
"I will never forget how you guys stood behind me in good and in challenging times!" he told fans in a farewell message posted on social media after his return to Leipzig was confirmed.
"My first year at Chelsea was probably my most successful year ever," he'd insist after leaving Chelsea. "Not on a personal level, but it was always portrayed worse than it actually was. I was the top scorer that season and we won the Champions League. I couldn't ask for much more.
"I had a few misses in my first year at Chelsea. Then I think I set a new record for VAR decisions against me – nobody will break that record anytime soon! All of that led to me losing confidence in my second year."
In England he will be remembered as a striker who constantly found himself flagged offside, missed a hatful of simple chances and was then discarded first out of position out wide and then to the bench. While more talented fowarrds than Werner have struggled at Stamford Bridge, make no mistake, he is a £47.5m transfer flop.
Little over a week before his RB Leipzig return was confirmed, the man who climbed Liverpool’s transfer shortlist following his move to Chelsea, Jota, was signing a new long-term contract at Anfield. Rewarded with improved terms following a 21-goal season as the Reds’ hunted down an unprecedented quadruple, the Portuguese put pen to paper on a new five-year deal.
While he is currently sidelined after aggravating a hamstring injury suffered when on international duty, the prolific 25-year-old’s importance to Klopp's team has not been forgotten.
"I remember the first time I saw him I thought he could be a player for me because of how intense he was in all situations,” Klopp lauded back in December 2021 after the forward had scored a memorable effort in a 4-1 victory over Everton at Goodison Park.
"Technically he was on a really high level but the intensity he puts in makes all the difference as at our level all players have technical quality. You make a difference with your attitude and that was what I was most excited about adding Diogo to the mix.
"People said he didn't score an awful lot of goals but the problem is Wolves had the most intense style of play for offensive wingers. [Raul] Jimenez was allowed to stay up but the rest had to cover the whole pitch and it costs you energy. And he was very young then.
"All that made it very interesting for us [and] it was clear he would make the next steps with us. What I didn't know when I saw him first is Diogo is an incredible package. From a personality point of view he is an incredible boy, really smart, structured in a nice way."
Yet having identified Werner as a possible target, Klopp would surely have felt similar about his compatriot, too, had he really wanted to sign him. And while he struggled at Chelsea, there was still a belief Werner could have fared differently at Liverpool, with the Reds’ style more suited to his own game. At the very least, he would have been working for one of the best man-managers around, and, like Jota, could have made the required next steps at Anfield.
While Werner returns to Germany having not scored an awful lot of goals in England, could he one day be given a second chance in the Premier League on Merseyside if he returns to form with Leipzig? After all, it wouldn’t be the first time Liverpool had reignited interest in a former target who flopped at Chelsea to great success.
The Reds were memorably beaten to the signing of Mohamed Salah by the Blues in an £11m transfer in January 2014, having been the front-runners to sign the Egypt international from Basel only to fail to agree a deal with the Swiss outfit.
But Salah would make just 13 Premier League appearances during his time at Stamford Bridge and was sent on loan to Fiorentina after a year at the club. A temporary move to Roma followed in summer in 2015 as he continued to successfully rebuild his reputation in Serie A, with the switch to the eternal city made permanent in the summer of 2016.
A year later, after another prolific campaign for Roma, Salah moved back to the Premier League with Liverpool. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Whether the Reds would ever reignite their interest in Werner, only club bosses would be able to answer. Having signed Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez and Fabio Carvalho to revamp their attack in 2022, the evidence would suggest otherwise.
But Roberto Firmino remains out of contract in 2023, with it still unclear what Liverpool plan to do regarding the Brazilian’s long-term future. Either way, the Reds did find themselves again linked with Werner as recently as June.
As things stand, following the 26-year-old’s return to Leipzig, it would seem the ship has sailed on a possible move to Anfield, with the prospect of him now joining Liverpool now an unlikely one. Yet it’s worth noting he had been expected to join the Reds in the first place back in 2020. Perhaps, if he returns to his free-flowing goalscoring ways in the Bundesliga, we should expect the unexpected.
Either way, Klopp will be content with his options at Anfield, with Jota a great success and fully deserving of his new, improved contract. When it comes to Liverpool and Werner, all that’s left is a story of ifs, buts and maybes.
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