Chelsea hesitant about Timo Werner’s price: Pickiness or stinginess

The Timo Werner saga continues with Chelsea and other English clubs unwilling to match his buyout. Is that pickiness or stinginess on the club’s side?

Timo Werner is one of the best strikers of his generation. He is arguably the striker to lead Germany forward into the next several World Cups. With the low, low buyout clause of €55 million (or about £50 million), every big club would find it a no brainer to trigger it, right?

Apparently not. According to the occasionally reliable Christian Falk, Liverpool, Manchester United, and Chelsea are all balking at that price tag. Liverpool do not really need him beyond building upon their near inevitable title win and even then they can focus elsewhere. United produces a lot of strikers and could always find a new one. Chelsea, however, does not really have an easy excuse not to activate the clause.

It comes down to one of two things: are Chelsea being picky about their signings or stingy about them? There is evidence towards both in the rumor mill and that may help explain why Chelsea is hesitant on what looks like a sure thing.

Working backwards, Chelsea is not strapped for cash. Talk of the war chest, largely filled with Eden Hazard cash, has been ongoing for quite a while. Add in that Chelsea has not spent for the last two transfer windows and the Blues should be sitting on plenty of cash to fund a Werner signing.

But there are cheaper options available. If Chelsea is simply looking for a backup striker, then Werner would be a pretty expensive one to bring in. The club would be hesitant to bench Tammy Abraham for any striker because it would hurt his development. Werner could play alongside Abraham as a sort of striker winger combo, but then the club has to start looking at the cost on that side of things as well.

Furthermore, if Chelsea is gearing up for a big name signing, Werner might dip into those funds. So far, Hakim Ziyech will arrive on the cheap. Nicolas Tagliafico is being linked and he too would come cheap. Perhaps Werner is just at that point where he is too expensive to bring in alongside a marquee signing.

But £50 million is not all that different than the 30 odd something that Ziyech did cost and many other rumored signings would cost. That is why Chelsea being picky about who they sign may be a better explanation as to why they are hesitant about Werner.

Part of Frank Lampard’s mandate has been to build a “Chelsea way”. What that will ultimately mean will take some time to determine, but it appears to be an aggressive pressing, high tempo, possession based game. Werner, being of the Red Bull family, would certainly tick the first two boxes. The jury is somewhat out on the last one. Leipzig are not overly concerned with possession and one of the reasons why Werner has not set the world alight with Germany could be that he does not match their more possession based style.

Furthermore, Werner has historically played in a two striker system at the club level. Not too many clubs play with two up top as exclusively as they once did, but there are very much growing pains when going from a two striker formation to a one striker formation. Werner could play up top, but that comes at the expense of Abraham. He could play wide, but that could stifle his skillset. And Chelsea is unlikely to go to a two up top formation given Lampard’s preferences.

Even with the cheap price tag, there may be better options overall for what the club is trying to do. A player more comfortable with playing wide or being Abraham’s deputy might make more sense in the grand scheme of things than Werner. The club has been slow to sign players as of late which implies they are taking their time to make sure they are getting the right player for their needs instead of the star name or the bargain buy for their own sake.