Timo Werner leaves Chelsea, returns to RB Leipzig

Timo Werner has completed a permanent transfer to RB Leipzig, returning to Germany after two seasons with Chelsea.

The forward is heading back to the club where he enjoyed four successful years before moving to west London, departing Stamford Bridge for his homeland as a European and world champion.

The Champions League triumph in Porto represents the highlight of his time with the Blues and he played his part in our success during his first season in England. Nobody matched his tallies of 12 goals or 15 assists in all competitions, while only Mason Mount made more appearances for Chelsea in 2020/21.

Werner’s first goal for the club arrived in his fourth game – a sharp turn and finish against London rivals Tottenham – starting a run of eight goals in nine games, including four across two big Champions League wins over Krasnodar and Rennes.

He could not continue that high-scoring form over the winter after a switch to the wing, although matters did pick up again later in the season following the arrival of fellow German Thomas Tuchel as head coach, making some crucial contributions in the closing stages of the campaign, even if he did not return to those prolific early heights.

He set up winning goals against Manchester City and Leicester City in the Premier League, which turned out to be vital in securing a top-four finish, as well as providing the assist for Hakim Ziyech’s goal in the FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City to book our place in the final.

His performances over the two legs of the Champions League semi-final with Real Madrid were among his best in a Chelsea shirt, providing our outlet on the counter-attack and opening the scoring in the second game, before starting the win over Manchester City in the final itself.

Further silverware followed in 2021/22, as Werner began in our shoot-out victory over Villarreal in the UEFA Super Cup to open the season and came off the bench as we beat Palmeiras in the final of the FIFA Club World Cup, securing that trophy for the first time in our history.

He had made another strong start to the season, featuring in nine of our first 12 matches and scoring to give us a late lead over Southampton in the Premier League. The German’s campaign was interrupted by a hamstring injury, but after a month out he scored on his return in a 4-0 Champions League win against Juventus.

That was one of four goals he scored in the Champions League in 2021/22, a tally which also included Chelsea’s quickest ever in the competition, when he found the net after one minute and 23 seconds against Zenit St Petersburg.

A season of ups and downs, interrupted again by a spell out with Covid, briefly sparked to life in April with four goals in as many games – a Premier League brace in a 6-0 win at Southampton followed by another strike against Real Madrid before scoring in defeat to Arsenal, although that would be the last time he found the net for the Blues.

In total, Werner’s two years at Chelsea come to an end with him having made 89 appearances for the club, scoring 23 goals.

All at Chelsea thank Timo for his contribution to our success over the past two years and wish him well for his future career.

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