His opponents often only saw Timo Werner’s heels. He scored a lot of goals in the Bundesliga, there could have been even more goals. In Leipzig he recently mostly just sat in the stands. Now he is moving to the USA. About someone who will be remembered, also because of a swallow.
In another time, when Thomas Tuchel was still the club coach and Timo Werner was a German national player, Tuchel once observed how, after a Chelsea FC team training session, all the players left the pitch one after the other, joking around or rushing to the shower. Werner, the goalscorer, was left behind; scoring goals sometimes seemed effortless, but often quite complicated. He wanted to practice shooting on goal.
Tuchel has told the story sometimes these days in spring 2021. It is therefore known that Tuchel prevented Werner, who had often not scored before, from training to score. That he engaged him in conversation to encourage him. Tuchel said: “I told him: You don’t need that. Your body and your brain know how to score goals. You’ve been doing it since you were six years old. Don’t worry, it’ll be fine.”
It was Timo Werner’s first season at Chelsea and it ended with the Champions League title. They then raved about Antonio Rüdiger for the “Blues,” who held the defense together. By N’Golo Kanté, who dominated the midfield. And by Kai Havertz, who scored the winning goal. Hardly anyone talked about Werner.
Werner in Champions League final? Quite a long time ago
Soon all of this will be half a decade ago. Tuchel is training England’s national team today; he is supposed to become world champion in the summer. Kai Havertz could become champion with Arsenal FC, and the title in the Champions League is not unrealistic. And Werner? He has a new club, after all: He is leaving RB Leipzig, the club where he had his best time, but where he was hardly allowed to play recently: three Bundesliga appearances in the first half of the season, spread over 13 minutes.
Werner, 29, played 260 Bundesliga games for Leipzig and Stuttgart and scored 102 goals, the last almost two and a half years ago. Now Werner is leaving Leipzig and the Bundesliga. His new club: the San Jose Earthquakes in Major League Soccer (MLS).
Timo Werner – goalscorer without a lobby
Timo Werner in the MLS – that’s a thought you have to get used to. His new club immediately called the move “historic”. San Jose also announced that the next 100 fans who purchase a season ticket will receive a jersey with the flock of the new one from Germany.
On the coast of California, at a club that only plays for titles in exceptional cases, Werner is, even before his first game, what some experts once thought he was for German football: a beacon of hope.
| season | Association | Competitive games/goals |
|---|---|---|
2013/14 | VfB Stuttgart | 34/4 |
2014/15 | VfB Stuttgart | 33/3 |
2015/16 | VfB Stuttgart | 36/7 |
2016/17 | RB Leipzig | 32/21 |
2017/18 | RB Leipzig | 45/21 |
2018/19 | RB Leipzig | 37/23 |
2019/20 | RB Leipzig | 45/34 |
2020/21 | Chelsea FC | 52/12 |
2021/22 | Chelsea FC | 37/11 |
2022/23 | RB Leipzig | 40/16 |
2023/24 | RB Leipzig/Tottenham | 28/4 |
2024/25 | Tottenham | 27/1 |
2025/26 | RB Leipzig | 3/0 |
There was, briefly, a time when Werner was one of the better attackers in Germany, a center forward nation that lacked center forwards of stature. This is also why Werner was a long-time member of the German national team, for which he played 57 international matches between 2017 and 2023. He scored 24 goals, often simply outrunning his opponents. All they saw of him was his heels. There could only have been more goals. Werner sometimes missed the best opportunities.
A swallow with consequences
Timo Werner’s ability to exploit his chances did not contribute to his popularity – although he played most of the games for Leipzig, a club that many people like to watch fail. But it wasn’t because of his use of opportunities that Werner was often booed in Germany’s stadiums. This was due to a scene that could be observed at a game at his club RB Leipzig in December 2016. Werner went down in the penalty area of the opponent Schalke 04, it was a clear swallow that referee Bastian Dankert overlooked. When Dankert asked Werner about the scene, he emphasized his innocence. Only later did he admit the swallow.
The scene haunts Werner to this day, the whistles and the ridicule. Once, just half a year had passed since that game against Schalke, Werner said in an interview with “Bild am Sonntag” that he couldn’t understand why the Schwalbe was still being held against him. Ultimately, he later admitted his wrongdoing. He could, said Werner, “Don’t do anything except perform. That’s what I concentrate on.”
And Werner performed well, at least for a long time. But the highlight of his career, the Champions League title with Chelsea, was also a turning point. He stayed in London for another year, but rarely met. Then he returned to Leipzig, where he was initially placed, but was later eliminated. An unsuccessful loan spell at Tottenham followed and a return to Leipzig in the summer.
Timo Werner’s speed was no longer an issue for a long time, nor were his goals. Not even the missed chances to score. When there have been reports about him in the past few months, it has mostly been about his salary, which is supposed to be high, and his sporting status, which doesn’t match that. Now Werner has said goodbye to the Bundesliga, at least for the time being. It’s a farewell through the back door.
