Tottenham have completed the signing of former Chelsea striker Timo Werner on loan from RB Leipzig until the end of the season.
According to Sky in Germany, Tottenham will cover Werner’s wages for the rest of the season and the deal includes a buyout for around £15m.
Werner returns to the Premier League after a two-year spell at Chelsea between 2020 and 2022, where he scored 23 times in 89 appearances in all competitions for the Blues.
The German striker returned to his former club Leipzig at the start of last season and scored 16 goals for the Bundesliga last season. However, he was limited to just 14 appearances and two goals in the first half of this season.
Spurs have boosted their forward line after Heung-Min Son left for the Asia Cup in January, with fellow forward Alejo Veliz out for two months with a knee injury.
Spurs midfielder James Maddison is also at least a couple of weeks from returning to action after an ankle injury.
Werner believes his talks with manager Ange Posetcoglou were key to bringing the former Chelsea striker to the club.
The German told SPURSPLAY: “I’m very pleased to be here. I joined a very, very big club.
“The conversation with the coach was very, very smart. He immediately gave me an idea of what I needed and how I felt about signing for the Club.
“Also, the tactics, the style, the way he wants to play and how the team will play; For me, I immediately thought it was a better fit.
“Hopefully I can be the player I can be here. I can play in every position up front. One of my strengths is being flexible up front.
“When I left the Premier League I straightaway missed it because it’s the best league in the world. I miss London as well, I really settled in here, I loved England and when I left it I really missed it because it’s a great city and a great place to be.”
Adam Smith of Sky Sports:
Timo Werner arrived in the Premier League three-and-a-half years ago with high expectations. His taste for the game compared to that of Mohamed Salah and the striker immediately showed his direct qualities, but he struggled to take advantage of his chances in front of goal. .
The radar below compares Werner’s per-90 statistics during his time at Chelsea with his previous three league campaigns in Germany and reveals the only metric that notably changed was his strike rate.
In terms of tangible numbers, Werner scored 10 goals in two Premier League seasons at Chelsea; however, it has scored almost double that figure, according to expected targets (xG).
The shot map below shows all of his 124 shots for Chelsea in the Premier League, with dots coloured in progressive shades of red indicating conversion opportunities, revealing a number of missed chances in front of goal.
He was deployed in positions across the line in an attempt to highlight his underlying talent, but failed to deliver while competing against a multitude of offensive characteristics vying for starting spots.
Tottenham will be hoping Werner’s second attempt at breaking into the Premier League will be successful. You will feel that you have unfinished business in England.
Sky Sports News journalist Dharmesh Sheth talks about Transfer Talk:
The more I look at Werner’s deal, the more sense it makes for Tottenham.
First of all, the risk is very low. It is an option loan, so there is no legal liability to buy Werner or finalize the loan. Secondly, it’s a £15 million purchase option, so from a monetary point of view it makes a lot of sense.
I know Werner has had a lot of complaints about his time at Chelsea, but the mentality of the player at that time will also come into play. Maybe now he feels he has a task to do in the Premier League and he feels he has to. make some other people wrong.
That’s a really good attitude to come into a new club with and if Tottenham can tap into that then this spell in the Premier League could be a lot more successful for Werner.
Dan Kilpatrick, lead correspondent for the Evening Standard, on Transfer Talk:
The risk in this deal lies entirely with Werner. If he fails at Spurs and the loan deal doesn’t work out, he probably won’t get another big hit.
On the other hand, there’s no real risk for Spurs.
The best-case scenario is he gets back to somewhere near his best form and Spurs can sign him for a third of what Chelsea paid for him four years ago.
The worst-case scenario for them is that he doesn’t do much. He’s probably still an upgrade on Bryan Gil and they just send him back to RB Leipzig in the summer.
There are a lot of threats here and I find it a practical deal with few downsides.
The winter move-in window is now open and will close at 11 p. m. in England and Scotland on Thursday, February 1, 2024.
To align with Europe’s top leagues, the final dates have been set following talks with the EFL, DFL, Serie A, La Liga and LFP, all of which will close their summer and winter windows on September 1 and February 1 respectively.
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