Newcastle eye move for Werner
Chelsea will consider letting Timo Werner leave in this window, but want to bring in another striker first, with Newcastle among the clubs on the Germany forward’s trail.
Werner has spoken openly on the club’s pre- season tour of america about his desire to play more ahead of the World Cup. and Juventus and former club RB leipzig are among those to have shown interest in him.
But Werner’s hopes of a move, whether on loan or permanently, will hinge on whether Chelsea can strengthen their forward line further following the £47.5million addition of Raheem sterling from Manchester City.
That remains one of the focuses for co- owner Todd Boehly and manager Thomas Tuchel for the rest of this window.
Werner joined Chelsea for £47.5m from leipzig in June 2020. In his first season, he was a regular starter and scored 12 goals, as well as setting up 15, in 52 appearances.
last season he started just 24 of Chelsea’s 63 games and scored 11 times, assisting six more goals. his best run of starts was eight matches in a row, though those regular opportunities did not arrive until the closing weeks of the season.
Werner is one of a number of players currently unsettled at stamford Bridge with their futures in doubt, a situation Tuchel alluded to following their heavy pre- season defeat by arsenal in the early hours of sunday morning.
‘We have a lot of players who are thinking about leaving and looking at their options,’ Tuchel said.
Captain Cesar azpilicueta and left back Marcos alonso are keen to join Barcelona and hakim Ziyech has also been the subject of interest from aC Milan.
With Kalidou Koulibaly also arriving at Chelsea this summer from Napoli for £34m, Chelsea remain in the market for at least one more central defender as well as another option who can play right back.
They are set to lose out on sevilla’s Jules Kounde to Barcelona and RB leipzig are determined not to sell highly-rated Croatian centre back Josko Gvardiol this summer.
Paris saint- Germain’s Presnel Kimpembe and Inter’s Milan skriniar are other centre backs on Chelsea’s radar and Inter’s Denzel Dumfries has emerged as an option for the right- sided defensive role.