Timo Werner was a £47m FLOP at Chelsea and his RB Leipzig return has been miserable too… So why are Manchester United looking at the German to solve their scoring woes?

Timo Werner won’t be travelling to Manchester this week as RB Leipzig try and knock City off top spot in their Champions League group.

An adductor problem has ruled the German striker out of Tuesday night’s game at the Etihad.

But, if reports coming out of Germany are to be believed, Werner may see Manchester soon enough.

Sky Sport Deutschland are claiming that Manchester United are interested in signing the 27-year-old to solve their goalscoring woes.

It suggests United would be prepared to overlook the fact Werner flopped miserably as a £47.5million striker at Chelsea, someone who managed only 10 Premier League goals in two seasons.

But with Manchester United’s forwards, such as Marcus Rashford (left) and Rasmus Hojlund (right), struggling for goals, reports in Germany are linking Werner with Old Trafford 

United manager Erik ten Hag would take some additional firepower during the January sales

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Given Werner helped Chelsea win the Champions League, his time at Stamford Bridge cannot be considered a total disaster.

But a goal return of 23 in 89 matches overall is hardly prolific and it’s why Chelsea broke the bank to sign Romelu Lukaku for £97.5m after Werner’s first season in an attempt to upgrade their strikeforce.

United cannot simply airbrush this from history and if they do move for Werner, there will be a huge amount of scepticism given his previous experiences in England.

After Chelsea cut their losses in 2022 and sold him back to Leipzig for £25.3m, Werner enjoyed a decent-enough first season back in German football, scoring 16 times.

But things have gone downhill this campaign, with head coach Marco Rose preferring summer signing Lois Openda at centre forward and Werner limited to cameos off the bench.

So far, Werner has started just two league games and scored twice, meaning his stock has very rapidly fallen at a club where the goalscoring exploits of his first spell are fondly remembered.

Werner’s dissatisfaction at his current lack of minutes seems to have put him on United’s radar, if the report is to believed, although they insist only initial contact has been made and the player wants to stay.

The sight of Werner celebrating scoring a goal has become increasingly infrequent at Leipzig

Werner has spent much of the current campaign warming the bench after falling out of favour

Really, you’d have to questions why Werner would wish to put himself under the microscope in England again and, given the intense spotlight on United, open himself up to more scrutiny.

The view of him in England is always going to be coloured by his miserable time at Chelsea and it would take something special to shift that preconception.

Also, it’s not as if he’d be first-choice at Old Trafford given £72m has been spent on Rasmus Hojlund in the expectation he will be first-pick centre forward for several years.

It’s difficult to see how Werner would be better off making the move over, so it will all hinge on the depth of his frustration at his current situation at Leipzig.

Only a few days ago, Werner was being linked with a January loan move to Fulham, West Ham or Crystal Palace but reportedly had minimal appetite for a Premier League return.

Perhaps the allure of United could change all that, even if many will see it as another example of how the mighty have fallen when it comes to transfer targets.

From United’s perspective, the pursuit of Werner does make sense to a certain point.

For starters, they desperately need to score more goals, especially in the Premier League.

Sunday’s 3-0 win at Everton finally wiped out their negative goal difference and featured the rare phenomenon this season of forwards actually scoring goals, with Alejandro Garnacho, Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial on target.

Marcus Rashford scored only his second goal of the season in Sunday’s victory over Everton

Anthony Martial’s nicely-taken goal rounded off United’s win – his second of the campaign

Hojlund has five goals in the Champions League but hasn’t netted domestically yet, while Rashford, Martial and Garnacho have just two apiece. Antony hasn’t scored at all.

Bruno Fernandes, Casemiro and Scott McTominay have all scored more times than all the attackers except for Hojlund.

So another centre forward who is less injury prone than Martial and who brings a bit of experience would be beneficial in reducing the scoring burden on Hojlund.

Given the Dane has a back issue that needs to be managed, Werner would give Ten Hag the luxury of a little more choice up front, allowing Rashford to stick to his favoured wider role.

If the German signed on loan in January, he’d be expected to score between five and 10 goals, something which should be achievable and could make a huge difference to where United finish.

Werner has been through a tough few years but there must still be a deadly finisher in him somewhere. At 27, he should be in his peak years.

He was always known for his acceleration – earning the nickname ‘Turbo Timo’ – and willingness to drop deep to link up with the wingers and midfielders.

Perhaps he could bring something fresh to United’s attack and help produce the goals so desperately needed.

Given United have mustered only 16 goals in 13 league games so far, things can hardly get worse.

This seems to be a January move that makes sense for a United team in urgent need of enhanced firepower as Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his staff prepare to take over recruitment.

But it doesn’t really stack up as the best move for Werner given his previous horror show in England.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe is poised to take over football operations at United in the coming weeks