Although Manchester United were linked with Timo Werner, the RB Leipzig striker has been acquired by another Premier League top-four rival, Tottenham, who brought the talented German on loan.
Spurs will also have a £15 million option to buy Werner at the end of the season if the 27-year-old performs satisfactorily in north London.
Werner did not do well in the Premier League with Chelsea and has not exactly impressed since his return to Leipzig, but here are three reasons why he is a perfect fit at Tottenham.
They don’t need a real striker:
Tottenham under Ange Postecoglou play a system based on positional flexibility, high pressure, pace and versatility in attack.
This style of football is fluid and free, which suits Tim Werner very well. He excelled in a similar system at RB Leipzig, which is why Chelsea invested heavily in him. Other elite clubs such as Real Madrid were also interested.
Werner is not a real striker, as Chelsea have tried to label him. He doesn’t like the ball at his feet, he’s not the best in those tight spaces, and his link-up play is also better suited to working with passes from the outside in than a winger.
Tottenham have Son Heung-Min up top, and he likes to use a variety of skills on the wings. Son is also not a pronounced number nine, although he has more of those qualities than Werner.
Werner can fill that role if needed, but he can be especially dangerous for wide goals, working with Son and benefiting greatly from James Maddison’s play.
All of this is linked to pressure and speed:
Speed kills. We all know how important raw speed is in the modern game, with many pundits often exclaiming that some players don’t have the speed or strength to match the athleticism of the Premier League.
Werner is undoubtedly a high-octane, elite athlete. He has speed on the track, covering 100 metres in 11.11 seconds. He was once the fastest striker in the Bundesliga, which Postecoglou can take full advantage of at Tottenham.
Postecoglou plays the most attractive and aggressive football in the English Premier League, something Werner is used to.
His best period at Leipzig was under Julian Nagelsmann, whose skipping is one of the most famous in football as a precursor to Ralf Rangnick in the Red Bull system.
Werner is willing and able to make big plays in defence high up the pitch, winning the ball and creating quick, clear-cut scoring chances for his teammates.
It is likely that Werner will be even more motivated to succeed in England after his period at Chelsea, during which he won the Champions League trophy, and he will work extremely hard for his teammates at Tottenham.
His big year with Leipzig:
Werner has been scoring the best goals in the Bundesliga, although it must be stressed that he is not a pure goalscorer or a real number nine.
In the 2019/20 season mentioned above, Werner scored 28 goals for RB Leipzig, which was actually the second time in his career that he scored more than 20 goals in a traditional 34-match Bundesliga season (the fewest games among the top five leagues).
Werner exploded thanks to the outstanding work done by current Chelsea player Christopher Nkunku as one of the biggest stars of European football, who defected to Leipzig and was his main teammate.
At Tottenham, Werner will be able to have such a player behind him with a healthy James Maddison, who was a Premier League Player of the Season candidate before his injury.
Maddison and Werner could be a duo of Batman and Robin, the secret weapons of Tottenham’s success under Postecoglou.
In addition, Werner has eight assists for Leipzig this season and seven in the Bundesliga a year earlier. He also knows how to create chances, an aspect of his game that will help others like Richarlison and the iconic Son at number nine.