‘It’s his life, his career’: RB Leipzig head coach calls on Timo Werner to make the right decision

Following four seasons of great goalscoring for RB Leipzig, including 30 goals across all competitions this season, it would seem that the time has come for Timo Werner to leave for a bigger stage and a bigger paycheck.

Normally, activating his €55m release clause would be a practical bargain. But thanks to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, teams including the Premier League trio most often linked with the 24-year-old are reluctant to do so.

This could of course be just a bluff or a negotiating tactics from teams like Liverpool and Chelsea, who should surely look to at least test the waters with a bid — especially as Werner has the power to push for an exit. His current manager, Julian Nagelsmann, is hoping to convince him to make the right decision and stay, but he knows that at the end of the day, if a player has his mind set on leaving, there’s little he can do as a head coach.

“He knows what he has in Leipzig. He hopefully knows what he has in me. I know what I have in him and I try to show him that. Just like with Dayot Upamecano, by letting him start every game and by giving him lots of chances to develop.

“But the player himself must feel that he can still improve here. If he doesn’t feel that way, there’s no point in telling him to stay every day. It’s his life, his career and so it’s up to him to decide what he wants.”

-Julian Nagelsmann; Source: Get German Football News

Werner has three years left on his Leipzig contract, but the risk for the club is that his release clause is set to drop by €20m for next summer. Unless they can renegotiated that, even more teams will be putting the pressure on Werner to leave.

The smart thing for Chelsea would be to jump in early now and see if we could sway Werner from his supposed Liverpool preference. We should have the money to do so, after the transfer ban and the big-money departures of Eden Hazard and Álvaro Morata.