Timo Werner

[Jase 43,479]

Werner: Moving to Chelsea was a 'hard decision' but the right one after Liverpool interest

https://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/werner-chelsea-hard-decision-liverpool-interest/1gruhip7f4mzazonrt1clltbt

The Blues striker spoke about his transfer and how he is convinced he made the right call to link up with Frank Lampard's young side. Chelsea's new signing Timo Werner has revealed that he considered other offers, but that he chose the Stamford Bridge outfit after a charm offensive from manager Frank Lampard. 

The £47.5 million (€52m/$62m) signing from RB Leipzig was unveiled to the media following his debut against Brighton, where he impressed despite not scoring in the 3-1 away win.

For a time it looked like Werner would join Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool, but they ultimately backed out of a move for the 24-year-old after the coronavirus crisis caused them to reassess their business in the transfer market.

The Germany international hinted he may have had further offers but that his first two months in west London have helped him realise that he made the right decision to join Chelsea.

"Yes, I think when I decided to leave Leipzig I talked to different clubs and next to Chelsea I spoke to other clubs," Werner said at his press conference. "For me, I don’t want to talk too much about other clubs.

"In the end, I decided for Chelsea. Liverpool had a great team, and maybe I could fit well, in the end I decided Chelsea because it was the best decision I could take. Not only the style of football. I think it was a hard decision.

"In the end but I am happy I made that decision. Now I am here, it feels right and good. It is calm and nice with these players. It is nice to be part of the team, the area where we start here and we can do well with this team in the coming months and years."

Along with Lampard, Antonio Rudiger and Petr Cech were among those who had dialogue with Werner ahead of his move to Chelsea. Still, it was the Blues boss who particularly impressed Werner with his personal touch to help convince him to sign.

"It was a strange time, we couldn't meet each other and we met each other here for the first time because of the virus," Werner said. "But he called me a lot, we had a lot of conversations, he texted me a lot and he sent me some videos where he could show me what style of football he wants to play.

"So for me those were important things to know about moving to a new club. Because I loved to play for Leipzig and everything was well for me there so it was really important for me to come to a team with a vision that fits my style of football.

"I think the whole Premier League fits very well to my style of football, because it's so fast, and fast players have really good space space to go there and play well. It was really important that he gave me the feeling that the system he wants to play will fit me very well.

"The conversation with him was also really important, he's a very nice and calm guy, who makes it clear what he wants and what his football style is and he makes it clear that you're not only a player but also a person, not like a friend because he's the manager and you have to have a respectful relationship."

Werner is part of an aggressive recruitment drive from Chelsea where they have spent around £200m ($252m) on five first team signings with more arrivals likely to come.

The Blues aim to close the gap with the likes of Liverpool, who they face on Sunday in the Premier League, and Werner added that he is here to win trophies.

"To achieve at Chelsea I come here to win titles," he continued. "Of course, Chelsea is a big club that wants to win. I am a player who wants to win every game. It is clear we want to win titles.

"In the last year we didn’t win so much but I think we have a strong and young team that can develop where we can have a long period together. We are young and want to win; it is a good way to reach what I want to. I came here to win and win titles and as many titles as possible.

"Of course, a lot of German players played in the Premier League before. It wasn’t that I saw one and thought I wanted to play in the Premier League because of him. I wanted to come to the Premier League because it is the world’s best league."

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[Jase 43,479]

One of the things Werner said in his presser was this...

"I want no excuses about needing to adapt for 10 or 15 games. We want to win and you can't have a player who needs a long time to adapt."

[1chelsea 864]

Watching the game again

[ulsterchelsea 3,221]

Really think this boy is a class act. Don't see him failing at all. Attitude is absolutely on point

[Special Juan 27,422]

That interview is first class, he speaks brilliantly and adding to that he has a winners mind and a 'have to win' attitude.

This boy is going to be something special here you can just feel it.

[Hutcho 8,443]

Every time I hear him speak I love him a little more. Guys a weapon. Hope he stays here for a long and successful time

[Supermonkey92 1,428]

One of the things Werner said in his presser was this...

"I want no excuses about needing to adapt for 10 or 15 games. We want to win and you can't have a player who needs a long time to adapt."

Alright, hes already my favourite

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk

[Unionjack 7,531]

His work ethic reminds me of Schuurle When he came back to rejoin the lads for pre season after winning the WC He ca,e back 2 weeks before the Gooners German lads saying it was important to him to do it.

[ahmedou 128]

 

[chelsea_4_eva 1,157]

Watching football in these conditions is kinda funny, now you can clearly hear what players are saying... yesterday on ig i saw a player shouting YEET before scoring with his head lol

[Jase 43,479]

Timo Werner on life in the fast lane: Scoring goals for sweets, congestion charges and living up to his nickname

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2020/09/18/timo-werner-life-fast-lane-scoring-goals-sweets-congestion-charges/

The London congestion charge may have caused Timo Werner some confusion, but, other than that, Chelsea’s new turbo-charged striker feels settled and ready to give Premier League defenders the runaround.

Born in Stuttgart, the home of car manufacturers Porsche and Mercedes-Benz, speed has always come naturally to Werner, who clocked 11.1 seconds for 100 metres as a teenager.

Now aged 24, Werner believes he would be even faster over the same distance and his speed of mind and movement were both on show during an encouraging Chelsea debut against Brighton, in which he won the penalty from which Jorginho opened the scoring.

Of all the club’s summer signings, the feeling inside Chelsea has been that Werner is the one ready to hit the ground running and live up to his nickname.

And it would be a double blow for Liverpool if the German international opened his Chelsea account against them on Sunday, given the London club beat the Premier League champions to the player dubbed ‘Turbo Timo’.

“Turbo Timo is not the worst nickname and, hopefully, I can show it suits me,” said Werner. “Being fast is a really good thing for me because it gives me a lot of opportunities in the game to score goals.

“It means I can create chances. For me, it’s a nickname I can hold and maybe people can say Turbo Timo scores a lot of goals.”

While the speed may have come naturally, Werner’s running and endurance were cultivated from an early age by his father, Gunther Schuh, who was a lower league footballer and amateur coach.

As well as having his son running laps of the football pitch that the team he coached played on, Schuh took Werner, who takes his surname from his mother, out to the hills to work on his speed and fitness.

“My dad always wanted me to be faster and he wanted to give me strength in my muscles,” said Werner. “He let me run up some hills and it helped me a lot. It taught me you have to work hard and the strength and fitness in the games doesn’t come from doing nothing. 

“It wasn’t the hills that gave me my speed, it was me thinking about how you have to train and work hard and be fit enough to go past defenders.”

Schuh also taught Werner to take goalscoring seriously from an early age, offering extra pocket money to spend on sweets for each time he hit the net and later only offering the financial incentive for goals scored with his weaker left foot or his head.

“At the beginning of my career, when I was nine or 10, we had a lot of tournaments,” said Werner. “For every goal, he didn’t give me much. It was for me to say ‘ok if I score 10 goals today I will have 10 euros’.

“It can buy me a lot of candy. It was my feeling when I was a kid. It was a joke with my dad. It made me want to score goals and I love scoring goals.”

The financial incentives have steadily increased for Werner, who Chelsea signed for £47.5million from RB Leipzig, but some of his first pay packets have been dented by the London congestion charge.

“I can speak English and I can understand most things, but it is hard to read the bills,” said Werner. “You know, the letters when they come from the Westminster (Council), or the Government, something like that. Sometimes it is very hard English and sometimes I give it to the staff here and they can tell me in easier language what they want from me.”

Other than advising his German team-mate on moving to Chelsea, Antonio Rudiger has also helped with the bills as Werner added: “Toni gave me some tips about...the congestion charge, is it? I never knew about it and it was important he helped me, otherwise I would be getting a bill everyday.”

That early determination, encouraged by his father, to hit the back of the net as often as possible has been evident throughout Werner’s professional career. He became Stuttgart’s youngest-ever scorer in the Bundesliga, aged 17 years, six months and 16 days and, six weeks later, he was the first 17-year-old to score twice in a Bundesliga game.

While at Leipzig, Werner, aged 23, became the third-youngest player to score 75 Bundesliga goals, behind Gert Muller and Dieter Muller, and he left as the club’s all-time leading scorer with 95 goals in 159 appearances.

His new manager, Frank Lampard, still holds the Chelsea scoring record, with 211 goals, but Werner believes the time was right to challenge himself once again.

“In Leipzig, I was the best Timo I can be and I learned a lot from the manager about the playing style,” said Werner. “He gave me a lot about how to improve myself in different positions. 

“For me, it was the right time to say ‘Ok I want to try something new’. It was time to move out of Germany and I wanted to go to the Premier League, where there are a lot of massive, strong defenders. 

“It was time to take the next challenge in my life because I made steps coming from Stuttgart. I got to the first team, then went to Leipzig, played for Leipzig for four years and played in the quarter finals of the Champions League in the end.

“This was, for me, a really good experience and now I want a new way to grow, To give my game some parts of English football. When I get the strengths of English football, I will get more possibilities in my game or more options in my game to do different things.”

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Werner exclusive: ‘If Liverpool call, you listen, but Chelsea was a better fit’

https://theathletic.com/2074763/2020/09/19/timo-werner-chelsea-liverpool-common-goal-london/

A few minutes into the interview, you notice that Timo Werner doesn’t stop smiling. Here’s a young man, content with where he is: in an apartment not far from Stamford Bridge, still in the same Chelsea training kit he put on a good six hours before. “I’m happy wearing blue right now, after all those years in white and red before,” he says. And it’s easy to believe him.

After coming through as a 17-year-old wonderkid at Stuttgart and establishing himself as a Germany regular at RB Leipzig, Werner carries himself like a player who has already read the script of his third act, the one that will deliver international stardom and silverware. Over the course of a lengthy early evening chat that touches upon his love for Formula One (“I’m a little boy when it comes to cars”), extended PlayStation sessions (“my girlfriend tells me off”) and becoming part of the Common Goal movement, he’s never more animated than the second the conversation veers back towards the game and his ambitions on the pitch.

“Growing up, I’d come home from training with Stuttgart, throw my bag down and go out to play more football with my friends,” he recalls. “Since then, work and fun have been the same for me.” Lucky him.

Chelsea have done their bit to help him make it a smooth transition. Werner says that countryman Antonio Rudiger helped him a lot in the beginning, and that Chelsea helped with sorting out the little things, such as electricity and gas. “The people in the back office, the staff and the manager are all very warm and genuine. They make it really easy for you. It’s just great being here.”

Londoners, at least those of a Blue persuasion, have taken a shine to him as well. “I was surprised how many people have recognised me in the street, but it’s been different than in Germany. Some people are nice and some are less so there, asking for a photo and stuff. But here, they’re incredibly polite and friendly. I’ve seen a guy roll down his window and shout, ‘Welcome to Chelsea!’ Others have come up and wished me, ‘Good luck.’ I’m very grateful for the warm welcome.”

These first few weeks in London haven’t completely gone by without complications though. The sheer size of the city and getting stuck in “crazy traffic” needed some getting used to, and the strange words being used around Cobham left him puzzled. “I’d never heard of ‘Lads’ before,” he laughs. “And the players were always saying, ‘Gaffer. Gaffer.’ I thought, ‘Who are they talking about?’ I knew that a ‘trainer’ was a ‘manager’ here. But ‘Gaffer’ was a new one for me.”

The aftermath of his successful debut, a 3-1 win at Brighton on Monday, brought more puzzlement. Chelsea’s medical staff told Werner he’d suffered a dead leg but the 24-year-old was instantly relieved to find that the limb hadn’t expired just yet. It was just another football term he hadn’t come across yet, the English equivalent of a “Pferdekuss” (literally: kiss of horse) as they call that type of bruising contact in his home country.

Mild linguistic confusion aside, it’s been a really good start to his time at Chelsea. He’s in awe of Cobham (“I’ve never seen such a big training ground, the facilities are class”) and the amount of recognition that has come with playing for Roman Abramovich’s club. Having done well on his debut, Werner also feels vindicated that he moved to London in mid-July, rather than wait to finish the season with Leipzig in the following month’s Champions League knockouts mini-tournament.

The idea was to settle in quickly and be sharp for the new season. Eminently sensible, it nevertheless attracted some criticism in Germany. Pundits accused him of putting the demands of his new job ahead of the chance to win Europe’s biggest trophy with Leipzig, for whom he had just scored a career and club-best 34 goals in all competitions. Did he not feel some pangs of regret, watching his former team-mates advance to the semi-finals in Lisbon?

“Of course I was a little sad not be there. That’s human nature. But the situation (with the transfer) had been complicated, and in the end, all parties decided me moving to London straight away was best. It wasn’t solely my decision, even though some made out it was.” So watching Leipzig doing so well did get him thinking on the sofa, but his competitive instincts soon kicked in again. “I decided I would use it as motivation to try everything I can to get into the Champions League semi-final, or further, with Chelsea.”

Earlier this year, the coronavirus lockdown had led to a different kind of introspection. Suddenly having so much time on his hands, an unprecedented respite in his professional career, got Werner contemplating issues whose importance far transcended the white lines on the grass. “With no restart in sight, you asked yourself, ‘Why am I doing this? Why am I training?’ But then you quickly realised that others had much more serious worries because their jobs were on hold and their livelihoods in danger. The whole situation just brought home how well off we are as footballers. We earn a lot of money and we don’t get fired. It’s a privilege. And it comes with a responsibility to give back.”

Werner had already been a frequent donor to various projects in Leipzig and Stuttgart but he decided to make more regular and targeted donations, joining up with the Common Goal initiative. Its members (there are 160 player and managers) donate one per cent of their wages to high-impact youth organisations and have so far raised €2.5 million.

The movement’s aim is to grow, with the organisers pointing out that one per cent of football revenue worldwide would bring in €400 million. “I often hear from friends or family members that they come across things, like a care home that needs extra money. I like that I can help the people in my region through Common Goal. I know exactly where the money is going. In Stuttgart, Leipzig and the rest of the world, there are so many people that need help during this crisis. Kids with ill health or people losing their jobs. At a time when footballers continue to get paid so well, we have to give back and do our part. More than ever.”

Perhaps the time off also contributed to him realising that he had to make the next step after four years at Leipzig. He had experienced three different coaches and some ups and downs, including public opprobrium following a dive and a neck injury that affected his balance, but by 2019-20, he had established himself as the club’s leading player.

“Playing for Leipzig was an oasis of wellbeing, it was all super and cool. I didn’t think there was a better club in Germany for me, not in the sense of the football being better and more successful, but in terms of feeling better and more at home. So when the offers for me came in this summer, I made a conscious decision to go abroad. My aim is to do the same I did at Leipzig, but at a bigger club, and to be feeling just as happy as I did there. I believe you can get to that point at any club. But only if you perform and work hard. I wanted to show that I can do it — in a new league, at a new club, in a new language.”

He adds that there was no chance of him moving into one of the Surrey mansions near Chelsea’s training ground, as he was determined to experience London close up. “Living in the countryside is nice but you might as well be in the countryside in Germany — you would only know the difference if you stepped outside and saw the car coming from the left side of the street rather than the right. I wanted to get to know the city and its people. It’s not more important than football but if you’re in such an amazing place, I thought I should better make the most of it.”

Werner loves riding in black cabs in particular. Whenever family or friends come to visit, he hails one and has the driver show them all the landmarks.

The sights and sounds outside the cab window could have been slightly different.

Werner speaks openly about his wish to join Liverpool after holding talks with Jurgen Klopp earlier this year. So, how close did he come to wearing the shirt of the away team in tomorrow’s match at Stamford Bridge? “In another world, it could have happened,” he says. “If LFC call, you have to listen and think about it. They are one of the best teams on the world, with a super coach — a German coach to boot. Of course you think about that. But in the end, my decision went Chelsea’s way. Not because there was anything wrong with Liverpool. But at Chelsea, the whole package was a better fit for me.”

Finances undoubtedly played a part in that respect, but Werner is keen to emphasise Chelsea head coach Frank Lampard’s role in swaying his mind. “He called me and we talked about his idea of football and his idea of how the way the team would look like. It all sounded good to me, especially the way he talked to me. It wasn’t like, ‘I’m the coach and I want you. Please come!’ He was very relaxed, asking me how I saw things, how I felt about playing here or there. And I was able to voice my opinion as well. He listened. In many aspects, we were in close agreement. He wants to play a pressing game, taking the game to the opposition, with quick transitions but to be good in possession as well. He said, ‘Timo, you will be free to make the right moves on the pitch, I trust you.’ It was a very good conversation.”

Interestingly, Werner didn’t ask to be played in a specific position. Actually, it was the opposite.

“We spoke a lot about that, it was very important to me,” he says. “At Leipzig, I was a striker, a No 10, playing on the flanks. I didn’t want to tie myself down to one role, saying, ‘I have to be this or that.’ The manager agreed and said that I’d be able to play in these different roles at Chelsea: ‘Whether it’s in a 4-4-2 or a 4-3-3, you will have the ability to make central runs from any vantage point, or go wide, or change positions.’ That versatility has been a big part of my development, and I want to keep getting better.”

His first taste of the Premier League (below) has encouraged him that he can do just that.

“You’re up against very big and very tall defenders here — real bears and buffaloes,” he says. “It’s a different pace. But on the other hand, the game tends to stretch. Spaces are opening up. With pace and angled runs, you can find a lot of space. It’s fun and very intense and also exhausting. But if you beat your man, there’s a lot of ground to run into.”

He bats away the question of whether he’s the fastest player in Lampard’s squad. “Christian Pulisic and Callum Hudson-Odoi are very quick. I don’t have to be the fastest one — as long I’m too quick for the defenders.”

Liverpool’s visit will offer an opportunity to put that theory to the test. But there’s no added dimension, no point having to be proved because Klopp’s men happen to be the opponents, he insists. “It would be wrong to approach the game that way. Showing the other team how good I am and what they’re missing can’t be the main motivation to perform. So it’s not about that for me.”

But he agrees that Chelsea’s credentials as one of the up-and-coming forces in the league will come into focus against the reigning champions. “We’re a super club, with a super team. Our mission at Chelsea now is achieving what Liverpool have achieved over the last couple of years. We want to get where they are. Sunday will provide a good opportunity to show others and ourselves that we’re good enough to do so.”

Good enough to win this season’s title, even?

Werner considers the question carefully, and for a second, there’s a glimpse of a hard edge underneath the boyish smile. “It’s our first season together. If we get into the flow, we can win many games and get a chance to achieve big things. But there’s no point to talk about going for the title just yet. We have a lot of new players coming in and need to gel first. We’re quite a young team as well. We can’t say we will beat Liverpool, and Manchester City, to the title, that we will smash them all. That would be audacious. But we can beat anyone on our day. We’re strong enough to do that. I wouldn’t say we’re a top contender for the title. But maybe we’re a secret one.”

But if you say it, it’s no longer a secret.

“That’s true,” he laughs. “We have to delete that, so that nobody knows.”

[Milan 17,853]

It is official now, I am in love with Timo. He got me even quicker than Hazard. That is a lovely interview. Everything he says is just right and spot on and makes you like him even more. And quite clearly now, he is the one who said no to the Liverpool deal. And that makes Mr. Klopp sooo upset. Very well played Frank.

[Jase 43,479]

 

[Unionjack 7,531]

2 minutes ago, Jason said:

 

From all Ive read/seen he seems a class act. Got a good head on his shoulders and feet firmly on the ground.
I think he will be very good with us - for a long time hopefully.

[Jase 43,479]

1 hour ago, Milan said:

It is official now, I am in love with Timo. He got me even quicker than Hazard. That is a lovely interview. Everything he says is just right and spot on and makes you like him even more. And quite clearly now, he is the one who said no to the Liverpool deal. And that makes Mr. Klopp sooo upset. Very well played Frank.

Wonder who his favorite F1 driver is. 

[Milan 17,853]

13 minutes ago, Jason said:

Wonder who his favorite F1 driver is. 

Indeed, that cought my eye too   My first guess was obviously Seb, but then I remembered his former team connection to Red Bull...