Reliable German journalist Christian Falk took to Twitter earlier today to claim that Chelsea defender Antonio Rudiger is trying to convince Timo Werner to join the Blues amid heavy interest from Liverpool.
Falk reiterates that Rudiger and the lightning-fast forward are friends due to their time together at Stuttgart, the duo have also been alongside each other as part of the German national team.
The Mirror reported a couple of days ago that Liverpool have withdrawn from transfer talks for Werner, as they aren’t prepared to meet the star’s release clause.
The Mirror actually claim that Jurgen Klopp’s side aren’t even willing to pay over £30m for prime target Werner, who has established himself as one of the world’s best strikers in recent years.
Update the English poker game @TimoWerner: Werner and @ToniRuediger are friends, played together @VfB. Rüdiger tries to convince the striker for @ChelseaFC
— Christian Falk (@cfbayern) May 29, 2020
According to the Athletic (subscription required), Werner’s desire is to either join Liverpool in the next transfer window or stay with Leipzig for another year.
Perhaps Rudiger has quite the task on his hands to convince his pal to move to west London instead.
The Athletic add that Werner’s release clause this summer will be €60m, this drops to €40m next summer and €25m in the summer of 2022.
Werner has scored 30 goals and provided 12 assists in 39 appearances across all competitions this season, the 24-year-old seems destined to join one of Europe’s powerhouses in the near future.
Werner is a versatile forward capable of playing across the front three, he could be an ideal signing for Frank Lampard’s side who should be eyeing an addition to ease the pressure on Tammy Abraham.
Even if the Blues don’t wish to field Werner out of position on the wings, this is exactly the kind of competition that Abraham needs – one that Olivier Giroud and Michy Batshuayi aren’t really capable of providing.