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Timo Werner Is Compared To Ballon d’Or Winning Striker Despite Struggles At Chelsea

Timo Werner Is Compared To Ballon d’Or Winning Striker Despite Struggles At Chelsea

Chelsea forward is likened to one of Europe's greatest goalscorers...

Alex Reid

Alex Reid

Timo Werner has been likened to a Ballon d'Or winning centre-forward, despite his struggles to find the net at Chelsea.

The Germany international, signed from RB Leipzig for £48 million last summer, has only five goals in 28 Premier League appearances. It's all the more worrying as he made a solid start for the Blues, but the goals have dried up the longer the season has gone on.

The 25-year-old also missed an absolute sitter during Germany's shock 2-1 defeat to North Macedonia in March's World Cup qualifier.

However former Chelsea striker Tony Cascarino has said that Werner reminds him of one of the most prolific forwards of the 1990s: Jean-Pierre Papin, who won the 1991 Ballon d'Or and broke the world transfer record when he joined AC Milan a year later.

Papin, who scored 30 goals in 54 games for France, finished as the European Cup's top scorer for three seasons in a row (two for Marseille, one for Milan) and was renowned for his deadly finishing ability. So it's quite a compliment from Cas.

France Football

"When I was at Marseille they had a lad who had played there previously, very famous, Jean-Pierre Papin," Cascarino told talkSPORT.

"He was very similar to Timo Werner. I remember talking to the lads about his finishing, it wasn't particularly good.

"He did incredibly hard, difficult exercises to improve his finishing because he relied on blistering pace, came off one angle to score many goals and I sort of feel that's where Werner is."

Werner scored 34 goals in 45 games for Leipzig last season, so clearly does possess finishing ability.

However Cascarino clearly believes that practice makes perfect when it comes to finding the net - and that with hard work, Werner can gradually sharpen his scoring ability.

"That work that he needs to do on the training ground to become more confident, have more belief in what he's doing because he causes havoc anyway without his finishing being up to scratch," added Cascarino, praising Werner's all-round play.

Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel has taken a different approach, reportedly refusing to let Werner do extra finishing training last week as he believes the striker is almost trying too hard and needs to clear his mind.

"If a woman doesn't want to go out with you, you cannot force her. Step back and maybe she will call you," Tuchel explained.

Wise life advice all round, but we'll have to see whether Werner can rediscover his scoring touch at Chelsea and go on to be as prodigious a goalscorer as a peak Papin was.

Featured image credit PA Images

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Topics: Chelsea, Timo Werner, Premier League