A dream come true for timo werner, RB leipzig makes a killing: with warm words, the national striker says goodbye to chelsea FC in the soccer paradise of the premier league in england.
Werner becomes the second most expensive RB transfer in club history with a buyout of 53 million euros. "I had four great years in leipzig," said werner. "Now i venture into the world metropolis of london. It was clear to me that my next step would be abroad – that has always been my dream."
It will be a quiet goodbye. Already on 20. June werner will play his last home game for RB against dortmund, followed a week later by the farewell performance in augsburg. The bundesliga loses one of its billboards in front of a ghostly backdrop. Since the confirmation of the transfer, it is also clear that werner will not play for leipzig in the continuation of the champions league in august. His new club in london is expecting him in july, but before that he has to undergo a medical check-up.
Werner had moved from stuttgart to leipzig in 2016 for 14 million euros. After the failed bayern-change, the 24-year-old extended his contract in the summer until 2023 – loved to include the clause that chelsea now pulled. After the 60-million-transfer of naby keita 2018 to liverpool RB collects once again a high ablose. Sporting to replace werner will be difficult. In 157 games for leipzig, he scored 93 goals and set up another 40 – a world-class tally.
Just the day before werner had shown his qualities against fortuna dusseldorf. After the lead by kevin kampl, the attacker increased with his 26. Season goal to 2:0. The fact that the final score against the relegation candidates was only 2:2 raised the frustration level of the saxons massively. "We were going 2-0 and i was actually hoping that we would have the confidence and bring the thing home," coach julian nagelsmann said. Now the safe qualification for the champions league is again connected with a lot of pressure. "Against dortmund we have to deliver."
The fact that RB has once again not managed to bring a lead against a relegation candidate over time, is one story. The consequence of this could get a much bigger dimension. Because even in his worst-case plans, as club boss oliver mintzlaff had communicated a few weeks ago in a conversation about the corona consequences, the participation in the royal league is firmly planned.
Leipzig needs the revenue to strengthen its squad and become a permanent challenger to bayern and BVB. Even with the champions league, RB calculates in the worst case with a shortfall in revenue of about 20 million euros, since they assume, among other things, to play until the end of the year without spectators. Without a participation in the most important european cup, the loss of income could be doubled. There creates even the werner-ablose only little room for maneuver on the transfer market.
At four points, the lead over fifth place is only comfortable at first glance. Because monchengladbach (paderborn, hertha) and leverkusen (hertha, mainz) have the much easier remaining program. RB is already on the 20. June (15.30 p.M./sky) against dortmund under pressure – especially since they have yet to win a ghost match in their own stadium. "We still have to get two points," Kevin Kampl calculates. "There we can start against dortmund. At some point we have to win at home again."