Why Manchester United should be looking at RB Leipzig’s Timo Werner

With the summer transfer window just around the corner, clubs around the world will be vying for the next gem to sign and make an impact. Manchester United will constantly be linked with all names under the sun, but one they should seriously be considering is RB Leipzig’s Timo Werner.

The German international has been tipped for greatness for a number of years now after breaking into men’s football with VfB Stuttgart, but very few expected him to have reached the levels he is on the verge of reaching so soon as a 22-year-old.

Werner might have started out as a winger - as most young, central forwards do - but his best suited position in the forward line is through the middle, as shown by his record for Leipzig.

What has been impressive to see in Werner’s short and budding career is his ability to improve year on year, even if his statistics do not increase at an exponential rate. When at Stuttgart, Werner struggled to find that clinical edge to his game, but that has been transformed since moving to Leipzig in 2016.

Werner's exploits in the Bundesliga

Timo Werner has been at the

centre

of a lot of attention this season

In Werner’s 103 appearances for his hometown club Stuttgart he managed to find the back of the net on 14 occasions. Comparing that to his 39 goals in 69 matches for Leipzig, it is evident to see how much his game has advanced in terms of goal-scoring in such a short amount of time.

There has been a lot of eyes on Werner this season, and for good reason too. The German-born striker has been instrumental in Leipzig’s monumental rise through the Bundesliga, qualifying for the Champions League and finishing second in the league in the club’s debut season in the top division.

While Real Madrid, Liverpool and a smattering of other teams are courting Werner, he will not be expected to come in and start straight away.

While Karim Benzema is a fading figure for Los Blancos, Ronaldo will rightly take the central striker role with two of Gareth Bale, Marco Asensio and Isco occupying the flanks.

Werner could well force his way into Zinedine Zidane's starting XI, but he has not shown enough so far to be an indispensable member of Madrid's team.

The same goes for Liverpool, who have Roberto Firmino taking to the field in the No.9 role, and given how important the Brazilian is to the functionality of the Reds' attacks, it is hugely unlikely Jürgen Klopp is going to take him out just to accommodate Werner.

At all three clubs, or another top European club that Werner might opt for, the German will gain an immense amount of experience as the step up from Leipzig to one of these teams is incredibly vast.

It is not such a transition to make, but if he is eased into the team, Werner will be more comfortable, rather than having a heaps amount of pressure put on him from the off.

Good backup option for Lukaku

Werner has eyes on leading the line for Germany in this year's World Cup

Up until the time of writing this, he has scored 18 goals in five more matches this season. He might not be as prolific as the 12 months prior, but Werner has had injuries to overcome which have taken their toll. What Werner can bring is his impeccable finishing rate.

In the German’s first season for Leipzig, he managed to score 21 times in 32 appearances with seven assists to his name.

Averaging 0.52 goals per-90 minutes, Werner’s stats show that he is clinical in front of goal, and a player that United could utilize at times in which either Lukaku goes off the boil, or in competitions where rotation is key.

While the German has not scored as many this season so far, his overall gameplay has improved greatly and he looks to bring teammates into the action rather than going for the glory moments himself.

Selflessness is important from time to time, even for a striker, and so clubs scouting Werner will be pleased to see that characteristic in his game.

Trophies and titles are won through squad depth, hence Manchester City’s excellence and dominance this season, and the Red Devils have struggled to match their cross-town rivals’ quality.

There was a pivotal moment this season where the Belgian centre-forward was underperforming and struggling for goals, but Mourinho was reluctant to take him out of the team, primarily because of a lack of reliable options up top.

At that point, a player like Werner would have been perfect to rotate with Lukaku and keep things ticking over and maintaining pressure on City, instead of handing them the Premier League in early December through a lack of poor results.

With the news that Zlatan Ibrahimović has been released by United, José Mourinho will be asking Ed Woodward, the executive vice-chairman, to sign another forward who can supplement Romelu Lukaku in the goal-scoring duties.

No striker being brought into the Red Devils’ team is going usurp the Belgian international, but Werner cannot expect - or demand - those privileges of starting every single week at a top European club just yet. He still has to prove his worth and excellence at the top level.

Werner is very different from Lukaku, which is something United need in their team. With Ibrahimović, it was a similar style of play with their aerial dominance, strength and playing with their back to goal.

While the former Everton center forward does have more versatility to his game than the Swede, they are still his main attributes.

The current Leipzig striker offers a bit more of a tenacious side in-between the lines of the defence, standing on the shoulder of central defenders and creating space for his other teammates to run into with the ball.

Werner does a lot of great work off the ball, too, which would allow the likes of Alexis Sánchez and Anthony Martial the freedom to exploit the gaps made for them.

Leipzig has shown that they intend to play hardball with their roster of talent given how they handled Liverpool’s approach to sign Naby Keïta - a transfer that went on for months on end and was postponed until next season.

Given the standard he is at now, as well as his age and potential to go onto bigger and better things, Leipzig will be reluctant to sell Werner for anything less than £60million, especially in this modern day market and the World Cup loo.

It is a big price to pay, especially for a non-starting player, but Manchester United have a sizeable transfer kitty to recruit new players.

If Mourinho’s men are to reclaim their position on the throne of English football, they need to bring in quality to pad out their squad.

They cannot simply rely on 11 players as they have done for large parts of this season. Bringing Werner in to replace Ibrahimović would be a wise move and one that should be done.