Timo Werner

Timo Werner ([ˈtiːmoː ˈvɛɐ̯nɐ]; born 6 March 1996) is a German professional footballer who plays as a striker for RB Leipzig and the Germany national team. He will join Chelsea in July 2020, after agreeing a £47.5m transfer with the Premier League club.

Upon making his senior debut in 2013, Werner became the youngest player ever to represent VfB Stuttgart and later became the club's youngest ever goalscorer. He made over 100 appearances for Stuttgart before joining RB Leipzig in 2016 for a then-club record fee of €10 million. Across his spell with the two clubs, Werner claimed the domestic records for being the youngest player to reach 50, 100, 150 and 200 appearances in the Bundesliga, although the former two milestones were broken by Kai Havertz, and is the youngest player to have scored two goals in a single top-flight match in Germany. Following four years at RB Leipzig, Werner agreed a deal to join english club Chelsea in June 2020, and he will officially join in July.

Werner was a prolific goalscorer at youth international level where he scored 34 goals in 48 appearances across the various age group levels. He made his senior debut for Germany in 2017 and in the same year helped his nation claim the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup where his return of three goals earned him the tournament's Golden Boot award.

VfB Stuttgart

An academy graduate of VfB Stuttgart, Werner represented the club at various youth levels. During the 2012–13 season, he was promoted to the U-19 side despite only being sixteen-years old at the time. He scored 24 goals for the campaign and was rewarded for his form when he won the Gold U-17 Fritz Walter Medal in 2013.

He made his senior debut later that year in a 2013–14 UEFA Europa League qualifying phase match against PFC Botev Plovdiv. Upon doing so, he became the youngest player to ever play in an official match for Stuttgart at the age of 17 years, four months and 25 days, breaking the record previously held by Gerhard Poschner. In the following weeks he also became Stuttgart's youngest ever player in the Bundesliga and in the DFB Pokal, and youngest ever goalscorer after netting his first goal for the club against Eintracht Frankfurt. He broke another record on 10 November when he scored a brace in a 3–1 win over SC Freiburg, thereby becoming the youngest player in Bundesliga history to score two goals in one game.

On his 18th birthday Werner signed a professional contract until June 2018 with VfB Stuttgart. He went on to score 13 goals in 95 league appearances, during which time he became the youngest player to make 50 Bundesliga appearances in the competition's history. The record was later broken by Kai Havertz in 2018. Stuttgart were relegated in May 2016 which prompted him to join newly promoted club RB Leipzig the following month.

RB Leipzig

On 11 June 2016, Werner agreed to a four-year contract with RB Leipzig for a reported transfer fee of €10 million, the largest in the club's history. On 26 September 2016, he became the youngest player to play in 100 Bundesliga matches when he appeared in a fixture against 1. FC Köln at the age of 20 years and 203 days. In doing so, he bettered the record previously held by Julian Draxler by 22 days, although he was again surpassed by Havertz in 2019. Werner ended the 2016–17 Bundesliga season with 21 goals, making him the leading German goalscorer in the division, and helped RB Leipzig qualify for the UEFA Champions League for the first time in the club's history.

In March 2018, in a match against his former club, Stuttgart, Werner became the youngest player to reach the milestone of 150 Bundesliga appearances, eclipsing the record previously held by Charly Körbel. Later that month he helped Leipzig defeat Bayern Munich for the first time ever when he scored the winning goal in a 2–1 victory. He ultimately went on to score 13 goals and record seven assists for the season.

On 7 October 2018, Werner scored two goals in a 6–0 league win over Nürnberg, the first of which was his 50th Bundesliga goal. The result was also RB Leipzig's biggest ever win in the competition. The following month, he scored a twice in a 3–0 league win over Hertha BSC and in doing so recorded the tenth competitive brace of his career. He reached the milestone of 10 league goals for the season on 16 December after scoring twice in a 4–1 win over Mainz 05. His double against Mainz was his fifth brace of the campaign, meaning that by that stage of season every time he scored in a match he went on to score a brace. On 27 January 2019, he made his 100th appearance for RB Leipzig when he started in a 4–0 league win over Fortuna Düsseldorf. He became the first player to score 50 Bundesliga goals for the club on 4 May when he scored once and assisted another in a 3–3 draw with Mainz.

Werner scored his first Bundesliga hat-trick in a 3–1 away victory against Borussia Mönchengladbach on August 30 2019. He made his 100th league appearance for the club on 5 October, during a 1–1 draw with Bayer Leverkusen. At the start of the following month, he scored another hat-trick and recorded three assists to guide Leipzig to an 8–0 win over Mainz, their biggest-ever win in the Bundesliga. On 23 November, he became the youngest ever player to reach the milestone of 200 Bundesliga appearances.

Chelsea

On 18 June 2020, it was announced that Werner had completed a move to Premier League club Chelsea, who had activated his £47.5 million release clause, signing a five year deal. He would join the club on 1 July.

Werner represented Germany at youth level, playing for the U15, U16, U17, U19 and U21 teams, scoring 34 goals in 48 matches overall. In 2010, he scored a hat-trick on his first appearance for Germany U15 in a match against Poland. Two years later, he was a part of the Germany team that finished runner-up in the 2012 UEFA European Under-17 Championship.

Werner was called up to the German senior squad in 2017 by head coach Joachim Löw for the friendly against England and the 2018 World Cup qualification match against Azerbaijan on 22 and 26 March 2017 respectively.

On 17 May 2017, Werner was named in Germany's squad for the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup held in Russia. He appeared as a substitute for Sandro Wagner in the team's opening game of the tournament against Australia, before scoring his first two international goals when selected to start in Germany's final group match against Cameroon on 25 June. Four days later, Werner scored Germany's third goal in a 4–1 semi-final victory over Mexico. On 2 July 2017, Werner assisted Lars Stindl's tournament winning goal in the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup Final against Chile. With three goals and two assists, Werner was awarded the tournament's Golden Boot.

On 4 June 2018, Werner was included in Germany's final 23-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. He made his first World Cup appearance on 17 June, starting in a 1–0 loss to Mexico in Germany's opening match. He featured in both of the remaining group stage fixtures but failed to score as Germany were eliminated at the group stage for the first time since 1938.

Club career

As of match played 17 June 2020

International

As of 16 November 2019

International goals

As of 13 October 2019. Germany score listed first, score column indicates score after each Werner goal.

#	Date	Venue	Cap	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	25 June 2017	Fisht Olympic Stadium, Sochi, Russia	4	Cameroon	2–0	3–1	2017 FIFA Confederations Cup
2					3–1
3	29 June 2017		5	Mexico	3–0	4–1
4	1 September 2017	Eden Arena, Prague, Czech Republic	7	Czech Republic	1–0	2–1	2018 FIFA World Cup qualification
5	4 September 2017	Mercedes-Benz Arena, Stuttgart, Germany	8	Norway	3–0	6–0
6					4–0
7	14 November 2017	RheinEnergieStadion, Cologne, Germany	10	France	1–1	2–2	Friendly
8	8 June 2018	BayArena, Leverkusen, Germany	14	Saudi Arabia	1–0	2–1
9	19 November 2018	Arena AufSchalke, Gelsenkirchen, Germany	23	Netherlands	1–0	2–2	2018–19 UEFA Nations League A
10	11 June 2019	Opel Arena, Mainz, Germany	25	Estonia	7–0	8–0	UEFA Euro 2020 qualification
11	13 October 2019	A. Le Coq Arena, Tallinn, Estonia	28		3–0	3–0

International

Germany

• FIFA Confederations Cup: 2017

Individual

Medals

• Fritz Walter Medal: U17 Gold - 2013
• Fritz Walter Medal: U19 Silver - 2015

Other

• FIFA Confederations Cup Golden Boot: 2017
• UEFA Europa League Squad of the Season: 2017–18
• Bundesliga Player of the Month: November 2019, December 2019

Records

Bundesliga

• Youngest player to score two goals in a Bundesliga match: 17 years, 249 days
• Youngest player to reach 150 Bundesliga appearances: 22 years, 5 days
• Youngest player to reach 200 Bundesliga appearances: 23 years, 268 days

VfB Stuttgart

• Youngest player to appear in an official match: 17 years, 148 days
• Youngest player to appear in a European match: 17 years, 148 days
• Youngest player to appear in a DFB Pokal match: 17 years, 151 days
• Youngest player to appear in a Bundesliga match: 17 years, 164 days
• Youngest goalscorer: 17 years, 219 days