Chelsea Issue 563-Word Statement On Timo Werner After Selling Him For £20m Loss

Timo Werner's 744-day Chelsea career was celebrated in a 563-word statement published by the Stamford Bridge outfit when his sale was confirmed this week.

The German forward has rejoined former club RB Leipzig on a four-year deal.

According to BBC Sport, Leipzig are set to pay Chelsea around £25 million for Werner.

That is £20m less than Chelsea paid Leipzig when Werner moved to London in July 2020.

Although Chelsea are making a significant loss on Werner in terms of his transfer fees, the 26-year-old leaves having made a valuable contribution.

Chelsea's statement highlighted the role he played in Chelsea being crowned champions of Europe in 2021.

Discussing Werner's impact in his debut season, Chelsea wrote: "Nobody matched his tallies of 12 goals or 15 assists in all competitions, while only Mason Mount made more appearances for Chelsea in 2020/21."

The statement later added: "His performances over the two legs of the Champions League semi-final with Real Madrid were among his best in a Chelsea shirt, providing our outlet on the counter-attack and opening the scoring in the second game, before starting the win over Manchester City in the final itself."

Timo Werner (right) pictured in action for Chelsea against Real Madrid in 2021

IMAGO/Alterphotos

Werner also won the UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup with Chelsea.

In total, Werner made 89 appearances for Chelsea, scoring 23 goals.

Chelsea's statement concluded: "All at Chelsea thank Timo for his contribution to our success over the past two years and wish him well for his future career."

Werner issued a statement of his own. It read: "Dear Blues, today marks the end of my journey with Chelsea FC.

"I am incredibly grateful for the time I spent at this special club. At this point I would like to express my appreciation for my teammates, the coaches and staff, and especially for you, the supporters of Chelsea Football Club.

"I felt so much love and support throughout the last two years and I will never forget how you guys stood behind me in good and in challenging times!

"We lifted trophies like the Champions League together and I will always remember the song you wrote and chanted for me. I'm already looking forward to hopefully playing at Stamford Bridge again one day!"

Werner also addressed Leipzig supporters in a message published on the German club's official website.

"I'm very happy to be able to play for RB Leipzig again," said Werner, who is the club's all-time leading scorer with 95 goals.

"I had a great time here between 2016 and 2020, when we performed brilliantly as newcomers in the league. It was a dignified departure for me to leave the club as record goal scorer, but that's in the past now and I'm looking ahead, because both I and the club have developed in the past two years.

"I had two great years at Chelsea that I'm really grateful for. The experience to play abroad in a new league really helped me and my career.

"Now I'm looking forward to the new season with RB Leipzig and above all to meeting the Leipzig fans again, who mean a great deal to me. We want to achieve a lot and of course, I want to become the first Leipzig player to reach the 100-goal mark."