A lot of ex Liverpool players have had something to say about Chelsea’s move for Timo Werner, and it hasn’t been positive to say the least.
Liverpool were favourites for his signature, but has ended up losing him to Chelsea, with the German believed to have agreed a five year deal to Chelsea, with wages of £200k per week.
Just last month and some months ago, Liverpool legends and ex players were all excited to see Werner join them ahead of next season, but since news broke of Chelsea hijacking the deal, the Reds ex players have become very disgruntled, and Werner no longer hold that much esteem in their eyes anymore.
Steve Nicol and John Barnes are two to have talked down the importance of Werner in the Liverpool team, and former Liverpool striker Stan Collymore is the latest to have towed that line, as he insists that Werner is no Lionel Messi. The former Liverpool striker told The Mirror: “The deal to take Timo Werner to Chelsea is a perfect arrangement for all concerned.
“Perfect for the player, perfect for the Blues, perfect for RB Leipzig, who are trousering £53million, and perfect for Liverpool as well. “He’s a good, solid striker with promise — an all-rounder who holds the ball up well, is mobile, gets into the box and scores goals.
“But the Liverpool fans sobbing about missing out on him can spare me the tears because he’s not Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo and the way some have reacted, you’d be forgiven for thinking he was some sort of reincarnation of both.
“Liverpool are the European champions, world champions and soon-to-be Premier League champions, and there would be massive pressure on him as the summer’s marquee signing at Anfield on the back of all that. “Add in the fact that Liverpool already have arguably the best-balanced front three in the world and I’m struggling to see where Werner would have fitted in.
“I wouldn’t have seen him displacing any of them and, given everything that team has done together, I could even have seen him flopping. “Why? Because walking into that dressing room would have been massively intimidating for a 24-year-old.
“At Chelsea, though, he will look around and see Tammy Abraham and Olivier Giroud, and think, ‘Yes, good players, but I’ll have that challenge’. “He knows he’s not the finished article yet and that’s what Liverpool will be looking for even if they aren’t the sort of signings Jurgen Klopp is fabled for making.”