Timo Werner admits disappointment with lack of Chelsea minutes
By Tom Gott
Timo Werner has confessed he wants to play more minutes at club level after another tricky season with Chelsea.
The German has struggled following his move from RB Leipzig in 2020, netting just ten goals in 56 Premier League games, and he started just 15 games in the competition last season as manager Thomas Tuchel sought the solution to his goalscoring woes.
Werner now faces added competition for minutes following the arrival of Raheem Sterling from Manchester City, with the Englishman set to be a near-permanent starter if all goes according to plan.
“I am happy when I play and score goals. That’s the fact. That’s what I should take care of and the other things will come," Werner explained, having scored Chelsea's first goal of their pre-season tour against Club America.
“I could be happy everywhere. It is clear I want to play more and I should play more to first be in good shape for the World Cup and also to have a chance to play at the World Cup. It doesn’t change anything whether it is a winter World Cup or in the summer. I think if I play half of the season or the whole season, I should play. It doesn’t change anything in my mind.
“But still, it’s already four months to go to the World Cup and we have a lot to do with Chelsea. The time will come when your thoughts go to the national team but not yet.”
Werner went on to admit that he does not really know why he does not play as many minutes as some of his teammates, but stressed his determination to force his way back into Tuchel's plans over the coming season.
“It was the same when Romelu [Lukaku] came here that we have big, big competition up front,” Werner said.
“It is still the same. At a big club like Chelsea you have that competition. In pre-season you can show that you want to play, that you are a guy who wants to be in the starting XI. That’s what I try."
On a reason for his limited minutes, he added: “It is hard to say. I didn’t ask but, I think, of course the manager always has different ideas, different thoughts and what you need in different games. I think in many games I was not in his thoughts so I try to change that.
“We play different systems, playing with two strikers or one striker, we play sometimes with a back four. It is not easy to say that I rather want to play this or this.
“I am happy when I play and of course when I play as a number 9 it is different to when I play a bit wider or as a number 10, but both are not too bad.
“We don’t have a fixed position that I play. I think we have six or seven players up front there, also in the national team, who can play every position. We all compete for the position.”