Timo Werner dropped by Leipzig after encouraging “big team” transfer

German striker Timo Werner appears hell-bent on a move away from RB Leipzig this summer, having again encouraged a summer transfer to a “big team.”

The forward is a man in demand, with Liverpool and Bayern Munich the suggested front-runners among most German media outlets.

While any possibility of a move depends on an agreement with his club—Leipzig are noted for being tough to negotiate with—Werner himself has been doing his best recently to make sure the entire planet knows he’s open to a move elsewhere.

Having praised Jurgen Klopp recently and spoken out about how he suits the Reds’ style but needs to improve further, Werner has now said he would like to switch to a club of greater stature—though whether coincidentally or not, he was also left out of the Leipzig team at the weekend thereafter.

“I think that I have the potential and possibilities to play for a big team,” he told Sky in Germany, with the full interview due to drop on Monday.

“I just think there are different procedures [at a big club]. When you say that you must become champions, you must go far in the Champions League, and when you must win the cup.

“When you use the word ‘must’, the pressure is completely different and much greater.”

Werner is usually a guaranteed starter for his team, having previously been in the lineup for all 24 of his team’s Bundesliga games this season.

At Wolfsburg, however, he was relegated to bench duty, coming on after 60 minutes in an eventual 0-0 draw.

While there were suggestions from manager Julian Nagelsmann that his forward has been unable to train recently, meaning his role as sub was a precautionary one, it seems reasonable to think that his club may also be running short of patience with Werner’s continual comments about departing.

His apparent ambition to take another step up this summer is an enticing one for clubs, but there’s another factor to consider in terms of Liverpool.

Klopp and Michael Edwards have habitually placed a lot of emphasis on a player’s character and personal make-up, and there must be a question of whether they feel Werner has potentially overstepped the mark in terms of continually putting his own desires ahead of that of the team, especially with Leipzig going for the title.