Chelsea set to finalize deal for Timo Werner as Liverpool fail to hijack the bid

Well this came out of nowhere. According to Bild (paywalled), Chelsea are prepared to sign Timo Werner from RB Leipzig, beating both Bayern Munich and Liverpool to the punch. The German international could earn as much as 10 million euros per year with the Blues — a significant payday compared to his current salary.

But what happened to the alleged secret phone-call with Jurgen Klopp? According to the report, Liverpool are backing out of the Werner deal due to financial issues caused by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. With the player having already expressed his desire to go abroad, this gives Chelsea a great opportunity to swoop in and activate Werner’s release clause.

And what about fit? Well, Frank Lampard is supposed to be a great fan of the German, and it’s likely that Werner would have a good time tearing up English defenses playing up top with physical strikers like Tammy Abraham and Olivier Giroud to give him cover. So in a sporting sense, the move does make sense. It’s just so sudden, and the news comes out of left field. Werner to Liverpool was supposed to be a done deal — and then this happened.

Meanwhile, Leipzig are set to replace Werner with Werder Bremen star Milot Raschica. The player has a release clause in his contract which could go down further in the event of a relegation. Now, it remains to be seen whether Werner is bought before the deadline in June, when his release clause expires. Imagine him starting against Bayern in the Champions League in August.

Update

Matt Law, a journalist with ties to Chelsea, has reported the same thing. Werner apparently has a deal with the Blues.

Update #2

Looks like this is really happening. Fabrizio Romano is as reliable as it gets.

Simon Johnson is also reliable and his tweet was also retweeted by the ever-reliable Raphael Honigstein.

Meanwhile, Falk tells us the juicy details.

Looks like this is actually happening, wow.

Update #3

We have more!