RB Leipzig manager Julian Nagelsmann has admitted there is ‘nothing he can do’ if Liverpool or any other club meet Timo Werner’s release clause this summer.
The striker has scored 24 goals in 28 Bundesliga appearances this season after bagging a hat-trick against Mainz on the weekend, and his goal-scoring antics have, well, caught everyone’s attention.
The Reds are believed to be Werner’s first choice for the wide chasing pack, and manager Jurgen Klopp has reportedly tried to convince the board to waive his £52.7m release clause. Stump up, though 90 minutes suggests Anfield recruits could look elsewhere for Leipzig. Play hardball.
90??? ?????????: Liverpool ready to consider other attacking talent if RB Leipzig do not lower their asking price for Werner…
— 90 Minutes (@90min_Football) May 28, 2020
Nagelsmann is understandably reluctant to lose his key man, and compares one possible success to Robert Lewandowski swapping Borussia Dortmund for Bayern Munich in 2014 – a move that has since led BVB to the league title. has been left without.
However, he admits that if an interested party is able to meet his release clause, there is little the club can do to stand in Werner’s way.
Nagelsmann told a news conference: “Of course you have conversations from time to time, but I haven’t talked to him about it in the recent past.
“I think he’s got 34 goals and assists now. I think you’ve got to tell me I’d like to keep him. That’s an extraordinary quality.
The top scorers in Europe’s major leagues so far this season…
28 – Robert Lewandowski
27 – Cyrus Mobile
24 – Timo Werner
21 – Cristiano Ronaldo
19 – Jamie Vardy
19 – Lionel Messi pic.twitter.com/kM7rJIA89W
— 90 Minutes (@90min_Football) May 31, 2020
“If he leaves for next season, there will be a big void. It’s like Robert Lewandowski leaving Bayern Munich. Nobody shouts ‘Hurray!’ There either, I think. Then they are clearly weakened, and so are we.
“That we want to keep him is perfectly normal. He has an exit clause until a certain date – I honestly don’t know when – and if a club comes and he agrees to them by then, So it happens.
Another club believed to be in the mix, who have been linked with a potential move, should Lautaro Martinez complete his widely anticipated move to Barcelona.
Sylvia Lor/Getty Images
However, their sporting director Piero Ausilio, claims to know where his future lies – and it’s not at Milan.
“I know his plans,” Ausilio told Sky, as quoted by The Star.
“We’ve always liked him, and I say that to highlight the great work of our scouting department. But he won’t come to us.”
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