Former Chelsea star Timo Werner has suggested Thomas Tuchel was to blame for his failure at Stamford Bridge after being ‘forgotten’ by his compatriot.
The German striker arrived in West London in the summer of 2020 following a lethal spell in the Bundesliga. He was fresh off the back of a 34-goal season with RB Leipzig - that form convincing the Blues to spend £47.5m on his services.
Werner started relatively well and despite helping the club to the Champions League title against Manchester City, developed a reputation for wasting golden chances after just 12 goals in his debut season in all competitions. He appeared far less in his second season before eventually deciding to return to his former club Leipzig last summer.
The German has claimed that he might have performed better had he been given more opportunities by Tuchel. Speaking to The Sun, Werner said: “I had a very good first six months at Chelsea, which was what the supporters and club expected of me.
“I scored the goals and played good games. 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.
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“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.”
Tuchel made clear his stance on Werner’s place within his squad ahead of the 2021/22 season. Just 12 months after investing heavily into the German, Chelsea dipped into the transfer market once more as they broke their transfer record to sign Romelu Lukaku.
Werner has bemoaned the signing of the Belgian forward and the fact that he was instantly usurped in the pecking order following his arrival. He added: “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.
“That was the toughest moment for me to get a player, a very good player, in front of me for 120million euros.
“Romelu was a big striker and had to play after costing so much and I didn’t feel honoured enough. Maybe that was also a reason why I had ups and downs.”
Like Werner, Lukaku struggled after moving to Stamford Bridge. He scored just 15 goals for the club in his debut campaign in all competitions before being allowed to rejoin former club Inter Milan on-loan.
