Why Liverpool did not sign Timo Werner as Tottenham flop prepares to face embarrassing Anfield snub

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When discussing a struggling forward’s failed move to Liverpool, the phrase ‘dodged a bullet’ comes to mind.

But not quite in the way Timo Werner probably intended when he suggested back in 2020, shortly after joining Chelsea instead, that Stamford Bridge rather than Anfield was the ideal destination for the then-much-coveted frontman to make good on his seemingly-boundless potential.

‘Much coveted’? ‘Boundless potential’?

Words which have seldom been used to describe Werner in recent times.

To think, five years ago, the somewhat forgotten man of Tottenham Hotspur was sauntering into English football on the back of a 34-goal season at RB Leipzig.

To watch highlights of that thrilling campaign now, knowing what we know, is like the beginning of a zombie outbreak movie. You know, when people are going along happily with their lives unaware of the horrors to come.

Half a decade on, having not even featured in a matchday squad since the defeat by Manchester City two months ago, Werner looks destined to leave Spurs without netting a single Premier League goal in the entirety of the 2024/25 campaign.

He’s unlikely to even be on the bench when Ange Postecoglou’s side face Liverpool this weekend.

While Kai Havertz hasn’t exactly set the league alight since making his own big-money move from Germany, the struggles of the man who assisted his winning strike in the 2021 Champions League final makes Arsenal forward look like the second coming of Kevin de Bruyne by comparison.

If Man City legend De Bruyne is England’s finest Bundesliga export, then Werner belongs alongside the Shinji Kagawas and Henrikh Mkhitaryans.

Liverpool can secure the Premier League title against a Heung-Min Son-deprived Tottenham on Sunday afternoon.

Having arrived from Wolves shortly after their previous title win, this will be Diogo Jota’s first. As for Timo Werner, who’s move to Chelsea opened the door for Jota to swap the Black Country for Merseyside in his place, even be a spot on the substitute’s bench appears beyond his reach.

One can only guess how Werner’s seemingly-doomed career would have turned out had Jurgen Klopp got his mitts on the once-prolific Germany international.

But considering Klopp’s record when turning very good players into truly great ones – Jota’s being the prime example of a footballer who ascended to hitherto unimaginable heights in a Liverpool shirt – it is not too much of a stretch to suggest that Werner, in an alternative universe, could have been ending Sunday night with silverware in his hands.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
1	LiverpoolLiverpool	33	24	7	2	75	31	44	79
2	ArsenalArsenal	34	18	13	3	63	29	34	67
3	Man CityManchester City	34	18	7	9	66	43	23	61
4	ChelseaChelsea	34	17	9	8	59	40	19	60

“Next to Chelsea, there were some other clubs I talked to,” Werner would explain shortly after he sealed that £45 million switch to West London.

“There are some other clubs like Liverpool. They have a great team and maybe I could fit good in some other team but, in the end, I decided for Chelsea because it was the best decision I could take. Not only because of the style of football but also what they have shown me.

“I think it was a hard decision. But I am very, very excited, proud and happy that I decided like this. It is fun to play here at Chelsea, to be part of the team. We can do very well with this team in the next few months and years.”

Liverpool did not want to pay £45m during COVID crisis

Chelsea, of course, can lord that Champions League triumph over their long-standing rivals from the North West. However, while the careers of Jota and Werner have moved in very different directions in the last five years, so too have the tales of Liverpool and Chelsea.

Werner also suffered the ignominy of losing twice to the Reds at Wembley in Chelsea blue. Once in the EFL Cup final and once in the FA Cup decider.

As Goal would explain, though this was not quite as simple a tale of Werner rebuffing Liverpool’s advances.

The Reds would eventually back away as Chelsea moved in, feeling that they could not justify a £45 million investment when finances were so tight at the height of the COVID pandemic.

By the time Jota arrived later down the line, professional football was back on the menu as the world started turning once again.

“Klopp spoke with the player via video link in April [2020]. Liverpool’s recruitment team were convinced the former Stuttgart man represented an ideal signing,” Goal explained at the time.

“The view was that Werner was speedy, still young and hungry enough to improve. He was seen as versatile enough to play in at least two positions in the Reds’ 4-3-3 system, and a clear upgrade on Divock Origi.”

That last part may have been true, at least initially.

But now 29 years of age, goalless and set to be shunted unceremoniously out the door when his Tottenham deal ends in the summer, if Liverpool could turn back the clock to 2020, they would choose Diogo Jota a hundred times over.