Can Angeball unlock Timo Werner’s potential? We’re about to find out

Tottenham Hotspur were always going to have to be creative in the January window. It is never an easy time to rebuild your squad and Spurs are trying to add three players without throwing hundreds of millions of pounds at it. Imagination and bravery were always going to be required.

But not many people would have expected Spurs to be as creative as this. There are not many surprises in the modern transfer market, but the news Tottenham have completed a loan deal with an option to buy for Timo Werner of RB Leipzig is one of them.

The unavoidable fact with Werner — we may as well confront it now — is that he has already been tried once in English football and was unable to make an impact. He was rated as one of the best young forwards in Europe — having just scored 28 Bundesliga goals in 2019-20 — when Chelsea signed him from RB Leipzig for £47.5million ($60.4m) in 2020. They had beaten competition from Liverpool for Werner and it felt like one of the coups of the summer. Liverpool had to wait on the refreshing of their front line, a delay that would eventually catch up with them, while Chelsea had bought themselves a new cutting edge.

Of course, it did not quite work out like that. Werner was a regular in his first season but only delivered six league goals. (He did win a Champions League winners’ medal, though, starting the final, which is not to be sniffed at.) From half as many minutes the following season, he managed four league goals. Throughout his spell at Stamford Bridge, he never looked like he believed that he belonged there, struggling in front of goal and with an unfortunate habit of being flagged offside whenever he did find the net. He was sold back to Leipzig at a loss that summer.

There is nothing new in a good striker going to Chelsea and failing to make an impression. There is a distinguished history of players – many of them better than Werner — who never looked themselves at Stamford Bridge: Andriy Shevchenko, Fernando Torres, Alexandre Pato, Radamel Falcao, Gonzalo Higuain, Alvaro Morata, Romelu Lukaku and so on. It should be acknowledged that most of these players arrived at Chelsea towards the end of their careers and Werner joined at 24.

It does still mean that Werner will, fairly or not, always carry that reputation in English football as someone who flopped at Chelsea. For some, this will be grist to the mill of inter-club banter. Some may point to Tottenham taking another ex-Chelsea player after the expensive failures of ex-Chelsea managers Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte in recent years. There is a theory that the Chelsea connection would have counted against Thomas Tuchel or Graham Potter with the fans when they were considered for the Spurs managerial job last year. There is probably a limit on the number of ex-Chelsea managers that Spurs can appoint and that limit has probably now been reached.

But in the real world, none of this actually means Werner will be a bad signing for Spurs right now. Some ex-Chelsea players have done perfectly well at Tottenham, like Scott Parker. Perhaps the best comparison for Werner is Eidur Gudjohnsen, signed on loan by Harry Redknapp during the January window 14 years ago. His experience was invaluable in helping Spurs secure fourth place that season.

So maybe expectations are not especially high that Werner can come in and score huge amounts of goals in the second half of the season. He has not hit double figures for league goals in a season since leaving Leipzig in 2020. (In hindsight, that 2019-20 year, when Werner radically overperformed his xG, was perhaps a one-off rather than a trend.)

But then watching Tottenham struggle past Burnley on Friday night, it was apparent they needed another option in attack right now. It was Spurs’ first game with Son away at the Asian Cup captaining South Korea. If South Korea reach the final in Qatar — and they are second-favourites for the competition — he will be away until the middle of February. That would mean missing league games against Manchester United, Brentford, Everton, and Brighton, as well as Spurs’ FA Cup fourth-round tie.

Spurs’ attacking options were thin. Richarlison is in good form but was not at his best on Friday night. Brennan Johnson has had to start the last 11 straight games, probably playing more than would have been envisaged when he signed. Dejan Kulusevski has been needed in midfield because of injuries there. Ivan Perisic is recovering from a serious knee injury and has played his last game for the club. Manor Solomon is also out.

Watching Spurs struggle to attack the space in behind Burnley’s back four on Friday, they looked like a team who needed someone experienced at doing exactly that. Werner’s running off the ball feels well-calibrated for how Ange Postecoglou wants Spurs to play, as is his pressing from the front. Even if he does not come in as the star of Spurs’ attack, he will offer depth and options, particularly at this challenging time. You can see him playing on the left of the front three or even through the middle. Taking some of the pressure off Richarlison and Johnson will be a good thing.

Werner will also benefit from a change of scene, the chance for minutes ahead of the Euros, and the opportunity to work under a new manager. Angeball may be perfect for him. If Postecoglou can help Werner to believe in himself again and he can add confidence in front of goal to those incisive runs he makes behind opposition defences, then both parties will surely benefit.

(Top photo: Ulrik Pedersen/DeFodi Images via Getty Images)