There are not many people that can turn down the mighty Pep Guardiola and Manchester City. But the latest Chelsea signing, Timo Werner, just did that. The German international said no to Pep Guardiola before moving to Chelsea.
Chelsea signed Timo Werner from RB Leipzig from 53 million pounds this summer. Werner was interested to join Liverpool before Chelsea managed to convince him otherwise. Wages might have been a major factor in that case. Werner would be getting around 300,000 pounds per week at Chelsea. Liverpool do not splash money like that and for sure it was lower than 200,000 pounds. And also Liverpool negotiated a lot longer while they allowed Chelsea to swoop right in.
Just before Werner penned down that Chelsea contract, Pep Guardiola personally called him. Pep asked the German to turn down Chelsea and to come to Manchester. His salaries would have been comparatively lower than that of Chelsea. Man City are very conservative about throwing wages to people and very few get a very high salary at Etihad. But that was not much of an issue to the youngster. The deal-breaker was the guaranteed game time at Chelsea.
Timo Werner mainly plays at two positions. His main role is to play as a number 9 striker upfront the pitch. Sometimes he likes to shift towards the left and attack from there. He is pretty effective there. The numbers do not lie in that regard. The German international found the back of the net 34 for times in 45 appearances for Leipzig. He also scored a wonderful goal for Germany against Spain in the UEFA Nations League which made Chelsea fans very excited.
Timo Werner would not have got the starting role at Manchester City immediately. Kun Aguero would once again be the first choice after his recovery from surgery. Brazilian international, Gabriel Jesus, would be next in the pecking order after the veteran Argentinian due to his time under Pep. Guardiola likes to play in a certain way and it takes time for players to get accustomed to that.
On the left-hand side, Raheem Sterling has cemented his position. With the arrival of Ferlan Torres, Werner would have faced even more competition than ever. Players like Bernardo Silva and Riyad Mahrez are not regulars in the City side. So it was a very risky call to go there. It could have been a disaster if he did not gel in the team.
The situation could not have been more different at Chelsea. The Blues have a very young squad with a few veterans at few positions. Timo Werner is guaranteed a starting role there under the manager Frank Lampard. Oliver Giroud is not young enough to start the games. The French international will have limited minutes coming off the bench. Tammy Abraham is very inconsistent and left his shooting boots somewhere else halfway through the last season. Batsuayi poses very little threat because of his very average performance.
The ball supply that he will at Chelsea is also very good. Frank Lampard likes to play an attacking style of football and his signings are made in that way only. With a midfield of Pulisic, Havertz, and Ziyech, Timo Werner could run riots in the Premier League.