RB Leipzig striker Timo Werner concedes his time with Chelsea was frustrating.
Werner has quickly rediscovered his best with Leipzig after leaving the Blues in the summer.
Ahead of Manchester City‘s last-16 Champions League clash in Leipzig on Wednesday, Werner told The Sun: “I had a very good first six months at Chelsea, which was what the supporters and club expected of me.
“I scored the goals and played good games.
“When you come from the kind of success I had in Germany or with Chelsea — playing nearly every game in the first season, winning the Champions League in 2021, scoring in the semi-final against Real Madrid, making a lot of goals.
“Then all this gets a little bit forgotten by the manager, it was not really fair.
“That was also a reason I had to move back to Leipzig, to get the enjoyment again.
“I didn’t feel that any more but you need it to be successful.
“In the end a manager likes some players more than others — it’s completely normal and you have to accept that.
“Maybe yes, in the end I just wanted out.”
Werner started up front as Chelsea beat City 1-0 in Lisbon to become European champions in May 2021.
But Romelu Lukaku‘s £97.5million arrival from Inter Milan just three months later left him doubting countryman Thomas Tuchel‘s faith in him.
He added: “The biggest problem was he put a striker like Lukaku in front of me in the second season after I won the Champions League by nearly playing every game in the first squad.
“That was the toughest moment for me to get a player, a very good player, in front of me for 120million euros.
“Romelu was a big striker and had to play after costing so much and I didn’t feel honoured enough.
“Maybe that was also a reason why I had ups and downs.”
But, having been brought in under Frank Lampard, Werner feels hard done by from his successor Tuchel for focussing on his missed sitters, rather than his ability to affect high-stakes games.
He said: “The manager who brought me in Lampard was sacked a few months later which was not the best for a player who joined the club after talking to this manager.
“In the end I missed some chances and was unlucky with VAR decisions.
“You could see my confidence dropped.
“From the outside it was easy to scapegoat me, whether that was from the media or coaches, whatever.
“But at least the fans were always behind me, they supported me. I can’t say anything against them.”
