Duskwen
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Player Watch Player Watch: Timo Werner
- Thread starter Archibald&Crooks
- Start date
Bluto Blutarsky
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- Mar 4, 2021
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Article in Athletic - nothing groundbreaking
Can Ange's style of football unlock Timo Werner’s potential? We’re about to find out
Jack Pitt-Brooke
Tottenham Hotspur were always going to have to be creative in the January window. It is never an easy time to rebuild your squad and Spurs are trying to add three players without throwing hundreds of millions of pounds at it. Imagination and bravery were always going to be required.
But not many people would have expected Spurs to be as creative as this. There are not many surprises in the modern transfer market, but the news Tottenham have completed a loan deal with an option to buy for Timo Werner of RB Leipzig is one of them.
The unavoidable fact with Werner — we may as well confront it now — is that he has already been tried once in English football and was unable to make an impact. He was rated as one of the best young forwards in Europe — having just scored 28 Bundesliga goals in 2019-20 — when Chelsea signed him from RB Leipzig for £47.5million ($60.4m) in 2020. They had beaten competition from Liverpool for Werner and it felt like one of the coups of the summer. Liverpool had to wait on the refreshing of their front line, a delay that would eventually catch up with them, while Chelsea had bought themselves a new cutting edge.
Of course, it did not quite work out like that. Werner was a regular in his first season but only delivered six league goals. (He did win a Champions League winners’ medal, though, starting the final, which is not to be sniffed at.) From half as many minutes the following season, he managed four league goals. Throughout his spell at Stamford Bridge, he never looked like he believed that he belonged there, struggling in front of goal and with an unfortunate habit of being flagged offside whenever he did find the net. He was sold back to Leipzig at a loss that summer.
There is nothing new in a good striker going to Chelsea and failing to make an impression. There is a distinguished history of players – many of them better than Werner — who never looked themselves at Stamford Bridge: Andriy Shevchenko, Fernando Torres, Alexandre Pato, Radamel Falcao, Gonzalo Higuain, Alvaro Morata, Romelu Lukaku and so on. It should be acknowledged that most of these players arrived at Chelsea towards the end of their careers and Werner joined at 24.
It does still mean that Werner will, fairly or not, always carry that reputation in English football as someone who flopped at Chelsea. For some, this will be grist to the mill of inter-club banter. Some may point to Tottenham taking another ex-Chelsea player after the expensive failures of ex-Chelsea managers Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte in recent years. There is a theory that the Chelsea connection would have counted against Thomas Tuchel or Graham Potter with the fans when they were considered for the Spurs managerial job last year. There is probably a limit on the number of ex-Chelsea managers that Spurs can appoint and that limit has probably now been reached.
But in the real world, none of this actually means Werner will be a bad signing for Spurs right now. Some ex-Chelsea players have done perfectly well at Tottenham, like Scott Parker. Perhaps the best comparison for Werner is Eidur Gudjohnsen, signed on loan by Harry Redknapp during the January window 14 years ago. His experience was invaluable in helping Spurs secure fourth place that season.
So maybe expectations are not especially high that Werner can come in and score huge amounts of goals in the second half of the season. He has not hit double figures for league goals in a season since leaving Leipzig in 2020. (In hindsight, that 2019-20 year, when Werner radically overperformed his xG, was perhaps a one-off rather than a trend.)
But then watching Tottenham struggle past Burnley on Friday night, it was apparent they needed another option in attack right now. It was Spurs’ first game with Son away at the Asian Cup captaining South Korea. If South Korea reach the final in Qatar — and they are second-favourites for the competition — he will be away until the middle of February. That would mean missing league games against Manchester United, Brentford, Everton, and Brighton, as well as Spurs’ FA Cup fourth-round tie.
Spurs’ attacking options were thin. Richarlison is in good form but was not at his best on Friday night. Brennan Johnson has had to start the last 11 straight games, probably playing more than would have been envisaged when he signed. Dejan Kulusevski has been needed in midfield because of injuries there. Ivan Perisic is recovering from a serious knee injury and has played his last game for the club. Manor Solomon is also out.
Watching Spurs struggle to attack the space in behind Burnley’s back four on Friday, they looked like a team who needed someone experienced at doing exactly that. Werner’s running off the ball feels well-calibrated for how Ange Postecoglou wants Spurs to play, as is his pressing from the front. Even if he does not come in as the star of Spurs’ attack, he will offer depth and options, particularly at this challenging time. You can see him playing on the left of the front three or even through the middle. Taking some of the pressure off Richarlison and Johnson will be a good thing.
Werner will also benefit from a change of scene, the chance for minutes ahead of the Euros, and the opportunity to work under a new manager. Ange's style of football may be perfect for him. If Postecoglou can help Werner to believe in himself again and he can add confidence in front of goal to those incisive runs he makes behind opposition defences, then both parties will surely benefit.
Jack Pitt-Brooke
Tottenham Hotspur were always going to have to be creative in the January window. It is never an easy time to rebuild your squad and Spurs are trying to add three players without throwing hundreds of millions of pounds at it. Imagination and bravery were always going to be required.
But not many people would have expected Spurs to be as creative as this. There are not many surprises in the modern transfer market, but the news Tottenham have completed a loan deal with an option to buy for Timo Werner of RB Leipzig is one of them.
The unavoidable fact with Werner — we may as well confront it now — is that he has already been tried once in English football and was unable to make an impact. He was rated as one of the best young forwards in Europe — having just scored 28 Bundesliga goals in 2019-20 — when Chelsea signed him from RB Leipzig for £47.5million ($60.4m) in 2020. They had beaten competition from Liverpool for Werner and it felt like one of the coups of the summer. Liverpool had to wait on the refreshing of their front line, a delay that would eventually catch up with them, while Chelsea had bought themselves a new cutting edge.
Of course, it did not quite work out like that. Werner was a regular in his first season but only delivered six league goals. (He did win a Champions League winners’ medal, though, starting the final, which is not to be sniffed at.) From half as many minutes the following season, he managed four league goals. Throughout his spell at Stamford Bridge, he never looked like he believed that he belonged there, struggling in front of goal and with an unfortunate habit of being flagged offside whenever he did find the net. He was sold back to Leipzig at a loss that summer.
There is nothing new in a good striker going to Chelsea and failing to make an impression. There is a distinguished history of players – many of them better than Werner — who never looked themselves at Stamford Bridge: Andriy Shevchenko, Fernando Torres, Alexandre Pato, Radamel Falcao, Gonzalo Higuain, Alvaro Morata, Romelu Lukaku and so on. It should be acknowledged that most of these players arrived at Chelsea towards the end of their careers and Werner joined at 24.
It does still mean that Werner will, fairly or not, always carry that reputation in English football as someone who flopped at Chelsea. For some, this will be grist to the mill of inter-club banter. Some may point to Tottenham taking another ex-Chelsea player after the expensive failures of ex-Chelsea managers Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte in recent years. There is a theory that the Chelsea connection would have counted against Thomas Tuchel or Graham Potter with the fans when they were considered for the Spurs managerial job last year. There is probably a limit on the number of ex-Chelsea managers that Spurs can appoint and that limit has probably now been reached.
But in the real world, none of this actually means Werner will be a bad signing for Spurs right now. Some ex-Chelsea players have done perfectly well at Tottenham, like Scott Parker. Perhaps the best comparison for Werner is Eidur Gudjohnsen, signed on loan by Harry Redknapp during the January window 14 years ago. His experience was invaluable in helping Spurs secure fourth place that season.
So maybe expectations are not especially high that Werner can come in and score huge amounts of goals in the second half of the season. He has not hit double figures for league goals in a season since leaving Leipzig in 2020. (In hindsight, that 2019-20 year, when Werner radically overperformed his xG, was perhaps a one-off rather than a trend.)
But then watching Tottenham struggle past Burnley on Friday night, it was apparent they needed another option in attack right now. It was Spurs’ first game with Son away at the Asian Cup captaining South Korea. If South Korea reach the final in Qatar — and they are second-favourites for the competition — he will be away until the middle of February. That would mean missing league games against Manchester United, Brentford, Everton, and Brighton, as well as Spurs’ FA Cup fourth-round tie.
Spurs’ attacking options were thin. Richarlison is in good form but was not at his best on Friday night. Brennan Johnson has had to start the last 11 straight games, probably playing more than would have been envisaged when he signed. Dejan Kulusevski has been needed in midfield because of injuries there. Ivan Perisic is recovering from a serious knee injury and has played his last game for the club. Manor Solomon is also out.
Watching Spurs struggle to attack the space in behind Burnley’s back four on Friday, they looked like a team who needed someone experienced at doing exactly that. Werner’s running off the ball feels well-calibrated for how Ange Postecoglou wants Spurs to play, as is his pressing from the front. Even if he does not come in as the star of Spurs’ attack, he will offer depth and options, particularly at this challenging time. You can see him playing on the left of the front three or even through the middle. Taking some of the pressure off Richarlison and Johnson will be a good thing.
Werner will also benefit from a change of scene, the chance for minutes ahead of the Euros, and the opportunity to work under a new manager. Ange's style of football may be perfect for him. If Postecoglou can help Werner to believe in himself again and he can add confidence in front of goal to those incisive runs he makes behind opposition defences, then both parties will surely benefit.
brasil_spur
SC Supporter
- Aug 25, 2006
- 12,710
- 16,808
Fucking love a bit of Flightradar tracking for transfers.
sidford
Well-Known Member
- Oct 20, 2003
- 11,380
- 29,903
Not much time for Bayern to try hijack it so
FrankSpencer
Well-Known Member
- May 23, 2007
- 1,237
- 4,133
Time for AG to take a holiday so this transfer can be completed!
Finchyid
Well-Known Member
- Jun 27, 2017
- 3,787
- 11,990
Wasnt he supposed to be here yesterday?
dirtyh
One Skin, two skin.....
- Jun 24, 2011
- 8,693
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probably been busy buying his arctic gear
npearl4spurs
Believing Member
- Sep 9, 2014
- 4,251
- 11,118
Got a good feeling about this one. He buries his first chance and he's out of sight.
yido_number1
He'll always be magic
- Jun 8, 2004
- 8,670
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I think we all have to, we need him to be good and have an impact.
Ron Burgundy
SC Supporter
- Jun 19, 2008
- 7,739
- 23,414
Absolutely - he'll need the crowd's full support.
He might not be the most clinical, but his pace will mean he'll chances others won't. If and when he missed, we need to support, not groan...something we're not always very good at
KeithStone
Well-Known Member
- Aug 22, 2013
- 194
- 900
Agreed. The same could be said for Johnson, too.
vegassd
The ghost of Johnny Cash
- Aug 5, 2006
- 3,360
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It's going to be interesting to see how Ange uses him... either as an option on the wing or straight down the middle.
Over summer I watched some YT highlights of Celtic under Ange (like most of us probably did) and something that struck me was how many goals Kyogo would pick up based on his positioning. He had the explosive pace to break off a defender and gain a couple of yards, and if that was timed right he was shooting from 8-10 yards. I know very little about Werner, but if he can recreate that sort of movement he isn't going to need to be scoring from the edge of the box etc.
Like you, I do find it a bit underwhelming. But we aren't going to be signing a top striker in January regardless, so if Ange gets a tune from him then there is probably plenty of upside there.
CanadaSpurs
Well-Known Member
- Aug 14, 2013
- 1,449
- 4,367
Working on Gil’s sale to free up the 11 shirt.
T-Bone
Well-Known Member
- Apr 3, 2014
- 425
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only if he turns out to be good which we all obviously hope he will.
mil1lion
This is the place to be
- May 7, 2004
- 42,493
- 78,074
Considering we walked from Fati due to no buy option this one makes a lot more sense. Missing out on the always injured Fati and getting Werner mid season will probably have turned out for the best. Considering our injuries this season I don't think we would have been a good fit for Fati who is out with a hamstring injury. What are the chances Werner plays more in this half season than Fati all season(currently on 9 appearances).
UncleBuck
Well-Known Member
- Aug 20, 2003
- 9,263
- 11,308
Forgot about Jota, this’ll probably put that rumour to bed as we’ll hopefully be back to full strength when Son returns.
Three options up top in Richy, Son and Werner
L/R Wing: son, Werner, Kulu, Solomon, Johnson, Gill
That should be more than enough cover for one game a week you’d hope!
brasil_spur
SC Supporter
- Aug 25, 2006
- 12,710
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Flight tracker guy was right then - that Cesna is due to land at 7pm at STN.
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