I went from Champions League glory with Chelsea to Thomas Tuchel’s scapegoat – but now I’m loving football again
TIMO WERNER conquered Manchester City in the Champions League with Chelsea — and now he is out to do it again with RB Leipzig.
The German star has spoken out about his Blues agony and taken a swipe at former boss Thomas Tuchel for having a short memory over his previous achievements.
But having escaped his two-year Stamford Bridge spell to return to Leipzig last summer, the 26-year-old forward has come full circle having rediscovered his love for football.
Ahead of City’s last-16 clash in Leipzig on Wednesday, he told SunSport: “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.
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“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.
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“Maybe yes, in the end I just wanted out.”
Werner started up front as Chelsea beat City 1-0 in Lisbon to become European champions in May 2021.
But Romelu Lukaku’s £97.5million arrival from Inter Milan just three months later left him doubting countryman Tuchel’s faith in him.
He added: “The biggest problem was he 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.”
In the end a manager likes some players more than others — it’s completely normal and you have to accept that.
Timo Werner
Werner scored 12 and assisted 15 in 52 matches during his first Chelsea campaign before 11 goals and six assists came in his second and last term.
He was most prolific in the Champions League — scoring eight in 17 across two seasons, including the opener in the Blues’ 2-0 semi-final first leg win over Real Madrid in 2021.
His meagre return in all competitions could have looked different had he not had a staggering 38 goals chalked off for offside.
But, having been brought in under Frank Lampard, Werner feels hard done by from his successor Tuchel for focussing on his missed sitters, rather than his ability to affect high-stakes games.
After 18 months under Tuchel, Werner insists there is no bad blood.
But he said: “The manager who brought me in Lampard was sacked a few months later which was not the best for a player who joined the club after talking to this manager.
“In the end I missed some chances and was unlucky with VAR decisions.
“You could see my confidence dropped.
“From the outside it was easy to scapegoat me, whether that was from the media or coaches, whatever.
“But at least the fans were always behind me, they supported me. I can’t say anything against them.”
Moving to London in the middle of the Covid-19 crisis was also a factor given the forced isolation on the then-24-year-old player.
He added: “In the first months, nothing was open, I was always sitting at home, spent Christmas and New Year’s Eve alone, to be always on games, of course that was tough.
“Maybe you can say that was one of the reasons it didn’t work for me.
“Maybe with a proper life, friends and family around me it would have been different.
“It’s easy to point the fingers on those things, it is what it is now.”
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp was keen to sign Werner the same summer he moved to Chelsea.
Asked if he wished he had moved to Merseyside instead, he said: “It’s hard to say, the door was never really closed in those two years before I joined Chelsea.
“At the time there were a lot of points that didn’t make my move to Liverpool happen.
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“Covid was a big thing, a lot of clubs were unable to spend money while Chelsea were able to go all-in for players.
“But to regret something? It’s too late.”
