Preferred whereabouts in Leipzig
© Imago
Sports director Marcel Schäfer has classified the difficult situation of Timo Werner at RB Leipzig and confirmed that the club got a transfer in the summer. “You talk to every player about the perspective, and we did that with Timo. We suggested that if he wanted to play more to orientate himself elsewhere,” said the 41-year-old in the “Doppelpass” at “Sport1”.
In the meantime, Werner is said to have been standing shortly before the move to Leipzig’s sister club New York Red Bulls. However, the deal failed due to the high salary demands of the striker, who came back to the Bundesliga from FC Chelsea in the summer of 2022 for 20 million euros. The 29-year-old, who had gone to London for 53 million euros two years earlier and won the Champions League there, was rewarded with a stately salary. He is expected to earn around 10 million euros in Leipzig until his contracting end in 2026, more than twice as much as any other professional in the squad.
This number should have been a reason for this why Werner decided against a departure, although this summer with Conrad Harder (for € 24 million from Sporting Lisbon) and Rômulo (for € 20 million from Götzepe) two new strikers as a replacement for Benjamin Sesko (for € 76.5 million to Man United) and Loïs Openda (by loan with a purchase option too Juventus) were fetched.
“He has deliberately decided to stay in Leipzig. We respect contracts, but with us the principle of performance,” says Schäfer, made clear, but emphasized that Werner does not get stuck in training. However, it was not enough for a nomination in the matchday squad in all four games.
RB Leipzig in transition: Schäfer wants “Back to the Roots”
In addition to Harder and Rômulo, Leipzig hired six other players this summer for a total of 136 million euros. None of them are older than 23 years old, which from Schäfer’s point of view is a clear signal: “Commit young players and accompany them that they get to their maximum performance. This is our way and our philosophy. We wanted back to the roots again.”