"I didn't feel honored enough" - Timo Werner explains how Chelsea star was responsible for his failures at Stamford Bridge
Former Chelsea striker Timo Werner has blamed out-of-favor Blues loanee Romelu Lukaku for his downfall at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea signed Lukaku ahead of the 2021-22 season for a whopping £97.5 million fee. Prior to the Belgian's arrival, Werner helped the Blues win the UEFA Champions League the previous season, bagging four goals and two assists.
The German attacker has criticized former Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel for favoring Lukaku over him during the 2021-2022 campaign despite Werner's previous exploits in Europe.
Timo Werner slams Thomas Tuchel and says Romelu Lukaku was main reason for Chelsea failure #CFC
express.co.uk/sport/football…
Touching on his time at Stamford Bridge, Werner said in an interview with The Sun:
“The biggest problem was he [Tuchel] put a striker like Lukaku in front of me in the second season after I won the Champions League by nearly playing every game in the first squad. That was the toughest moment for me to get a player, a very good player, in front of me for 120 million euros."
He added:
“Romelu was a big striker and had to play after costing so much and I didn’t feel honored enough. Maybe that was also a reason why I had ups and downs.”
Werner was signed by former Chelsea manager Frank Lampard from RB Leipzig in the summer of 2020 for €50 million. The German international struggled the following season, managing only four goals in the Premier League under Tuchel, who replaced Lampard in January of 2021.
The attacker returned to Leipzig last summer for a £25 million fee. He seems to be enjoying life back in his home country, recording 11 goals and four assists in 23 appearances across competitions this term.
"It was not really fair" - Timo Werner accuses former Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel of 'forgetting' his worth
Werner also accused Tuchel of forgetting his performances in the Blues' Champions League-winning campaign. The German international reflected on his start to life at Stamford Bridge and said:
“I had a very good first six months at Chelsea, which was what the supporters and club expected of me. I scored the goals and played good games. When you come from the kind of success I had in Germany or with Chelsea — playing nearly every game in the first season, winning the Champions League in 2021, scoring in the semi-final against Real Madrid, making a lot of goals."
Kai Havertz picking up where Timo Werner left off 😂 https://t.co/3EK3fyw8Rt
Blaming Tuchel for his lack of game time and downfall at the west London outfit, he added:
"Then all this gets a little bit forgotten by the manager, it was not really fair. That was also a reason I had to move back to Leipzig, to get the enjoyment again. I didn’t feel that anymore but you need it to be successful."
"In the end, a manager likes some players more than others — it’s completely normal and you have to accept that. Maybe yes, in the end, I just wanted out.”