Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has said he plans to get the best out of struggling striker Timo Werner by building the German international’s confidence back up and finding a way of setting up the team that plays to his strengths and creates opportunities for him.
Chelsea made Werner the most expensive German player in history when they triggered a £47.5m release clause to buy him from RB Leipzig in June, a record they broke again within a few weeks to land fellow countryman Kai Havertz from Bayer Leverkusen.
Although he started a little slowly, Werner found his scoring boots in October and had a run of seven goals in seven Premier League and Champions League games. But as Chelsea started to struggle and pressure began building on Frank Lampard, his only goal since was against lower league Morecambe.
Chelsea are so determined that Werner and Havertz will be success at Stamford Bridge, a German-speaker was thought to be one of their preferred criteria for Lampard’s successor.
Tuchel is exactly that and is already setting his sights on bringing Werner back into form.
"It is important to rebuild his trust in himself, and to re-find a smile on his face and to stop doubting himself too much. It is my job to help him with this, and to help find the position where we can use his strengths,” Tuchel said, quoted by Sky Sports.