Timo Werner has hit out at former Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel, revealing that his decision to sign Romelu Lukaku led to his eventual exit.
Werner is back at RB Leipzig after two inconsistent seasons in west London, though the first brought a Champions League triumph in which the German played a key role with four goals and two assists across 12 games.
Lukaku was months later brought back to the club in a remarkable £97million move, pushing Werner down the pecking order before eventually departing back to the Bundesliga on a cut-price deal - which Tuchel has been blamed for.
"The biggest problem was [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," he told the Sun.
"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."
