Timo's Time? SUMMER HEADLINE MAKERS
TIMO WERNER HAS LONG BEEN LINKED WITH A MOVE TO LIVERPOOL — AND SOME OF EUROPE’S OTHER BIG CLUBS ARE SAID TO BE CIRCLING TOO. MICHELLE OSEI BONSU ASKS WHAT’S NEXT FOR THE GERMANY HITMAN…
BARCA BLUNDER?
Naby Keita’s first season at Liverpool should serve as an example to Timo Werner, Michelle Osei Bosnu believes, after the midfielder struggled to get to grips with English football. Although the prospect of playing in the Premier League will certainly seem appealing to any player – let alone a rising young star like Timo Werner – the grass really is not always greener on the other side. Just look at the case of his former teammate Naby Keita, who has failed to make a big splash in his first season in England. The Reds spent big on his services but it hasn’t reaped immediate dividends. Keita has proven to be a fair acquisition but Liverpool spent £48m on him and would have expected a little more than that for their money. Widely viewed as one of the biggest talents in Germany, a lot was expected of Keita, particularly as Liverpool moved heaven-and-earth to sign him from RB Leipzig. The deal was agreed in 2017 but he didn’t move to England for another 12 months, but Liverpool were determined to get their man and wanted him locked up before anyone else got there. When he did get to Anfield, at 23, he was given the No. 8 shirt most famously worn by iconic captain Steven Gerrard. If that was a sign of what was hoped for, he’s fallen short. Injuries didn’t, as his start to the season was disrupted by muscular problems. But there’s significant competition for places too, and Keita simply didn’t do enough to show he should be picked ahead of his teammates. Jordan Henderson and Georginio Wijnaldum formed a strong partnership and Keita’s fellow new arrival Fabinho stepped up his game too after a slow start. Then there’s the versatile, hard-working James Milner, and Alex OxladeChamberlain, who impressed in midfield before a long-term injury. That all leaves Keita in a conundrum. When he’s healthy, there’s no guarantee he’ll play. It’s a situation Werner could find himself in if he chooses Anfield as his next destination.
Three highly successful seasons later, Timo Werner has been linked with a move to Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool.’
O
n November 10 2013, Stuttgart beat Freiburg 3-1. That game would have just been any ordinary match in the Bundesliga calendar, except for the fact that history was made on the day. A certain young striker by the name of Timo Werner found the back of the net twice, and at just 17 years of age, this feat made him the youngest ever player in Bundesliga history to score a brace in a match. Werner went on to score a total of four goals in his debut season in the top flight, and continued to be a consistent starter for Stuttgart over his next two seasons. While he never hit double figures during his time there, the rising talent still managed to rack up over 50 appearances – making him the youngest ever player to reach this milestone, until it was broken in 2018 by Kai Havertz. Unfortunately, Stuttgart were not able to hang on to their rising star following their relegation at the end of the 2015-16 season, and their loss proved to be ambitious side RB Leipzig’s gain, as they snapped up the burgeoning talent that summer. Three highly successful seasons later at Leipzig, and he has been linked with a move to the Premier League, with Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool among his rumoured suitors. Bayern Munich, of course, have sat up and taken notice – which is no surprise, as die Roten are notorious for snapping up all of their rivals’ best players at a drop of a hat. But the fact that the Reds were apparently sniffing around during the winter transfer window and could possibly make an offer this summer raises some questions as to whether he would suit the team’s all-action style at Anfield. To answer these questions, one must take a look at who exactly Timo Werner is? Born on March 6, 1996 in Stuttgart, Germany, he took his first footballing steps at his hometown club, starting out with die Schwaben at the age of six. His father,
Günther Schuh, plied his trade as a winger for 07 Ludwigsburg as well as Stuttgarter Kickers and played an instrumental role in his son’s success – but unlike his father, Timo opted to eventually play as a centreforward like his idol, Mario Gomez, who he would eventually get the opportunity to play alongside at international level just over a decade later. Werner opts to play under his mother Sabine’s maiden name – perhaps in a bid to establish his own identity separate from his father – and he has done that in leaps and bounds. In 2017, he was part of a young and untested squad fielded by Joachim Low at the Confederations Cup, scoring three goals and providing two assists as Germany lifted their first ever trophy in Russia. For his efforts, he was awarded the tournament’s Golden Boot, and naturally, there were high expectations when he was named to die Mannschaft’s 23-man squad when the team returned to Russia last summer to try to defend their World Cup crown. But the ‘curse of the World Cup’ struck once again as Low’s side were humiliated and eliminated in the group stage for the first time since 1938. Werner failed to have any impact whatsoever, despite featuring in all three of Germany’s three group stage games, against Mexico, Sweden, and South Korea, but he was one of the few players who generally escaped significant harsh criticism from the press. Nonetheless, at 22, he just so happened to be the same age as two icons – Diego Maradona and Brazil’s Ronaldo – when they featured for their respective nations at World Cups and made their tournament debuts. And it was Ronaldo himself who handed Werner his Golden Boot prize back in 2017, while Maradona was reportedly among the first to congratulate him on his feat. In 2017, during his first full season at senior level with the national team, Werner netted seven times in just 10 appearances,
ABOVE: Timo Werner burst onto the scene with Stuttgart before switching to RB Leipzig BOTTOM LEFT: Naby Keita left Leipzig for Liverpool in 2018 but it hasn’t all gone to plan for the midfielder