Football journalist Raphael Honigstein has been discussing Timo Werner and why the striker chose to move to Chelsea instead of Liverpool earlier in the summer transfer window.
This comes after Honigstein recently made an appearance on The Athletic’s Ornstein & Chapman Podcast to talk about a number of transfer-related topics.
On the subject of Werner, who was heavily linked with a move to Anfield before he ended up signing for Chelsea back in June, Honigstein had this to say on why the German chose to join the west London club over Liverpool.
He said: “Well, the way he told me in the talk that I had with him last week was that Liverpool were hugely attractive to him, but ultimately, Chelsea just ticked more boxes – and I don’t think he meant it in a financial way. He also talked to colleagues of ours in BILD in an interview on Sunday and said that the promise of regular game time at Chelsea swayed his mind as well on top of everything else.
“I think this was not a decision against Liverpool. I think him and Klopp would have loved to work together. You could see the embrace after the final whistle at Stamford Bridge, you might remember the amount of times that Werner actually went on the record saying Liverpool is one of his preferred destinations, but ultimately, Chelsea just seemed to be the better fit for him.”
Before making the move to England, Werner made a total of 159 appearances for RB Leipzig, in which he managed to score 95 goals and provide 40 assists along the way (per Transfermarkt).
Werner’s latest appearance for Chelsea saw the striker earn himself a solid match rating of 7.43/10 for his performance against Jurgen Klopp’s side at the weekend, making him their best performer on the day (per WhoScored).
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TIF Thoughts…
If what Honigstein said in the podcast is accurate and Werner moved to Chelsea on the basis that he would be guaranteed more game time than he would at Liverpool, then that seems fair enough to us.
Given how he has played 90 minutes in each of Chelsea’s first two Premier League games this season, it seems that he is already getting sufficient game time at his new club.