Former Tottenham midfielder and assistant coach Steffen Freund has revealed that the club wanted to sign Timo Werner as far back as a decade ago.
Werner’s arrival at Spurs has garnered a mixed reception, with some pundits such as Roy Keane having their reservations about the German, owing to his previous struggles at Chelsea (Sky Sports via The Mirror).
However, just four games into his Tottenham career, the 27-year-old has demonstrated why Ange Postecoglou was keen to bring him through the door, appearing to be a very good fit for the Australian’s system.
The forward put in a Man of the Match performance in his first home Premier League game since arriving at the club, setting up Brennan Johnson’s goal against Brentford and also playing a key part in the build-up to Destiny Udogie’s equaliser.
Werner will be hoping to build on his good start at N17 and should he continue in the same vein, it would certainly be a no-brainer for Spurs to activate the £15m option to buy at the end of the season.
Tottenham looked at Timo Werner a decade ago
Freund has now revealed that the German international was first on Tottenham’s radar when he was coming through Stuttgart’s academy as a teenager.
The 54-year-old, who was assistant manager at White Hart Lane between 2012 and 2015, told Sky Germany’s Deadline Day show (via Florian Plettenberg) about Werner: “We already wanted to bring Timo Werner to Tottenham in 2014. He has recently stagnated in Leipzig.”
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While there has been plenty of focus on Werner’s weaknesses, specifically the fact that he is not clinical in the final third, the German has some obvious strengths, namely his directness, which Postecoglou would love. While it is still early days, it does seem like he will be a very useful squad option for the Aussie coach at the very least.