General impressions
Timo Werner has fallen out of the spotlight. In the 2020/21 season, the German appeared as the main scapegoat. For some fans – a great martyr. In the 2021/22 season, the forward rather disappeared. There are several reasons. The first is Romelu Lukaku. One side, the Belgian pulled the media background: first – a quick start at Chelsea, then – a December interview and a difficult adaptation.Former Inter star tidied up time on the pitch. In the PremierLeague-2020/21 Werner ran 2605 minutes of play, then in the championship-2021/22 – half as much, 1291. The second reason is thinned missed moments. In the 2020/21 season, Werner did not score against empty Leeds, smeared from the goalkeeper’s border against West Ham and Newcastle. In addition, the German was leaking chances in the Champions League – one of the failed shots came in the final against City. In the 2021/22 season, there were fewer explicit flops. Only failures from the away game with Southampton come to mind, but Timo blocked them with a double. The third reason is Werner kept active off the ball. In his debut season for Chelsea, Timo offered a compromise: dedication in pressing in exchange for scoring stability. The habit of active pressure turned the German into a favorite and pushed Tammy Abraham away. In the Premier League 2020/21, the ex-Leipzig star gave 13.1 pressing actions in 90 minutes. In the 2021/22 championship, the figure rose to 17.3.
The details
Where in Werner’s departure to the shadows did not answer the question, what is Timo’s future? Werner came to Chelsea as a player who had scored over 10 goals in four consecutive seasons. In two cases (campaigns 2016/17 and 2019/20), Timo scored 20 goals. Despite a meager stretch in London, the ex-Bundesliga scorer does not get out of the national team’s application. But he lost his place at the heart of the club. Werner could reveal Lukaku transfer- by analogy with Lautaro Martinez. Didn’t grow together. Forwards started in pairs in only 10 Chelsea matches: at home – with City, Southampton, Malmö, Chesterfield, Arsenal and Wolves, away – with Brentford, Zenit , Tottenham in the League Cup and Luton. Timo has scored six goals in these games. Only in two goals did the German participate in a pair with Romelu: we are talking about the second ball against Zenit and the third against Luton. In both cases, Lukaku scored – from the transfer of Werner. Lukaku rather complemented Werner as a partner in misfortune. There was no strong connection between Timo and Romelu. From the second half of the season, Tuchel increasingly delegated a place in the attack to Kai Havertz. Hence the questions. In April, Nizaar Kinsella, a Goal.com contributor and Chelsea specialist, wrote that Borussia were interested in Werner. Dortmund’s attention shifted in May due to financial inquiries. In autumn, the media linked Timo with Bayern. Probably, the striker was not forgotten at home. In parallel, Chelsea looks at Gabriel Jesus. On June 8, Kinsella wrote that the main contender for the Brazilian is Arsenal, but the fight is still possible.In case of a transfer, City forward will bring qualities similar to Werner: play both in the center and on the flank, activity in pressing and opening.