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Former Chelsea and EPL manager Roberto Di Matteo has revealed in a recent interview that he nearly signed German sensation Timo Werner on two separate occasions over the course of his career.
Roberto Di Matteo took over the reins at Chelsea in the 2011/12 season and experienced a considerable amount of success at the London club. The Italian manager also went on to manage Schalke 04 and EPL club Aston Villa.
Timo Werner has been the talk of the town as far as the EPL is concerned. The German striker has been in explosive form this season and his prolific nature in the final third has attracted the interest of Manchester United, Liverpool, and Chelsea.
Chelsea was ultimately able to activate Timo Werner's release clause and sign the young striker. The RB Leipzig star will join Frank Lampard's side next season.
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Roberto Di Matteo wanted to bring Timo Werner to the EPL
In an interview with Chelsea's official website, former EPL coach Roberto Di Matteo has sensationally claimed that he nearly succeeded in bringing Timo Werner to the EPL during his time at Aston Villa.
The former Italian international was Chelsea's interim manager during the 2011/12 season and guided the Blues to their first Champions League trophy with a famous win over Bayern Munich.
The Chelsea manager was unable to replicate his European fortunes in the EPL, however, and was sacked by the club the following year. Di Matteo left the EPL to join Bundesliga club Schalke 04, where he took note of a young Timo Werner breaking through the ranks at Stuttgart.
"When I was at Schalke he was at Stuttgart and Timo Werner was just coming on to the scene. I was saying I wanted to sign this guy, he’s good. He was young, quick, technically good. I said 'can we not sign this boy Timo?'"
Following a mediocre spell in the Bundesliga, Di Matteo returned to the EPL to manage Aston Villa. Timo Werner's boyhood club Stuttgart had been relegated the following year and the EPL manager realised that he had been presented with the perfect opportunity to take full toll of the situation.
"Then I went to Villa. Stuttgart, the season after, they got relegated, and so I enquired again to sign him, but then Leipzig signed him on."
Di Matteo went on to explain that Timo Werner would adapt well to the electric pace of the EPL and would be the perfect fit for a young Chelsea side under Frank Lampard.
"He’s a goal scorer, he scores goals, so he can guarantee a certain amount of goals for the team, which is very good, and he’s very pacey as well, he’s fast."
Chelsea seems to be the preferred destination of several young talents in Europe at the moment. In addition to Timo Werner, Ajax winger Hakim Ziyech has also decided to begin his EPL adventure at the London club.
Frank Lampard also has the likes of Mason Mount, Christian Pulisic, Tammy Abraham, and Billy Gilmour in his ranks and will look to mount a formidable campaign to secure the EPL title next season.
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