Former Chelsea striker Timo Werner has taken a dig at former manager Thomas Tuchel and highlighted Romelu Lukaku's signing as his 'biggest problem' during his time at Stamford Bridge. The German striker completed a £47.5million transfer to the Blues from RB Leipzig in 2020 before returning to the Bundesliga outfit two years later.
Werner was a key player for Tuchel as he helped Chelsea win their first UEFA Champions League title since 2012 in his debut season. Lukaku's arrival at Stamford Bridge after returning in a £97million move saw the Germany international's minutes limited in the 2021/22 season.
After a difficult second season, Leipzig re-signed Werner for almost half the fee they received from Chelsea two years prior. The 26-year-old forward scored 23 goals and provided a further 21 assists in 89 appearances for the Blues and has now blamed Tuchel for being 'forgotten' about as he was made to be somewhat of a scapegoat. In an interview with The Sun , via GOAL , Werner said:
“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. 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. "Maybe yes, in the end I just wanted out. The biggest problem was he [Tuchel] 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 (£105million). 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."
Chelsea will hope that Christopher Nkunku enjoys a more successful time at Stamford Bridge compared to Werner with the Frenchman set to join the Blues from Leipzig this summer. The west London outfit have already agreed a pre- contract with the France international who has scored 17 goals and provided five assists in 24 appearances this season.
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