RB Leipzig: Marco Rose reacts to critical statements from Timo Werner

Player spoke of little exchange

First published: February 16, 2024, 11:11 a.m., updated: 12:23 p.m

When it came to an alleged move for Timo Werner in December, those responsible at RB Leipzig emphasized that the striker should ideally assert himself at the “Red Bulls”. That probably didn’t come across as convincing to the 27-year-old. In an interview with “Sky”, the 57-time international player explained that there had been “relatively little exchange” with coach Marco Rose about this. He now contradicted.

Update: Coach Rose disputed Werner’s account. “I tried very hard for Timo. We had many conversations. I believe that the topic as a whole is very complex. Timo should be happy that he is feeling really well again, that he is playing a lot and performing,” said the RB coach on Friday. His door was always open for Werner. “A player feels a little bit differently,” said Rose. Werner chose similar words after his early departure from Chelsea. “He should be happy that he is doing the way he is. Otherwise, it’s a bit of a matter of pausing, remaining humble, and correctly assessing your own situation,” said Rose.

Werner moved to Tottenham on loan in January. “During the first half of the season it was clear how the coach thought about me and planned for me. “That’s why it was relatively easy for me to take this step,” Werner told “Sky”.

Werner referred to his limited playing time in the first half of the series with RB before he decided on a change of scenery. In his first season after Chelsea returned to Leipzig in 2022/23, he logged around 2,000 Bundesliga minutes and scored nine times, and was also involved in the second major title win in the club’s history with five goals and as a regular player in the DFB Cup. The rumored gross salary of 10 million euros for the Stuttgart native paid off even less over the course of the new season. In the championship there were only 203 minutes left (two goals). However, Werner also had to sit out several times due to minor injuries.

Werner apparently saw the appreciation that he may have lacked in Leipzig in London, where Spurs are Werner’s second big club after the not entirely satisfactory time at Chelsea. The former VfB pupil went back to Saxony from the Blues for 20 million euros, whereupon Tottenham did not wait long to make their first inquiry when it became apparent that Werner might be interested in a move. “It ended up happening very quickly,” he said. “Tottenham had already contacted us two to three weeks beforehand. But I never went into it because I thought I could work something out in Leipzig over the winter. The greater the interest became and the more often Tottenham contacted my advisors, it eventually became so interesting that in the end I couldn’t say ‘no’ anymore.”

Werner: Fun back in Tottenham – “It wasn’t right in Leipzig anymore”

The step back to the best league in the world was important for him: “Back to a football that I enjoyed a lot back then.” And the fun has now “completely returned,” said Werner. “I have changed a lot as a person, I have become much happier. After five games you can say that the transfer was worth it. But the season is still long. I want to build on my first achievements. But it was worth it for the five games just to play our football in our stadium.”

Now he’s back in London.
I would very much like him to regain his composure and be permanently happy there. So that it is said.
The only German center forward who played for 2 of the 3 top clubs from London.
Basically, I’m very happy with how it turned out for everyone involved.
He has another chance to attack big without having to go to Manchester United.
Thought that the Chaos Troop was actually the maximum he could still achieve.
We can escape unscathed…

Werner summed up the failure of his second attempt at RB Leipzig: “Sometimes things no longer fit between people or between tactics and players. I can complain to few people in Leipzig that the situation was like that. This no longer gave me the joy that I had felt for a long time. In the end it didn’t work out in Leipzig. That’s why it was the right step for everyone involved that I go to Tottenham. At the beginning, you wouldn’t have thought that it would work so well here and that I would immediately feel at home.”

The international was in the starting line-up five times for Spurs, collecting more minutes than in the first half of the season with RB and preparing two goals for the fourth-placed team in the Premier League. The Spurs reportedly have a purchase option of between 15 million and 20 million euros at the end of the season.

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