Werner rejoins Leipzig after 2 seasons at Chelsea

Timo Werner returned to RB Leipzig on Tuesday, two years after leaving the club for Chelsea in a €53-million transfer that failed to live up to expectations.

Leipzig paid an initial €20 million to re-sign the German forward, according to The Guardian's Fabrizio Romano. That's much lower than the €35 million Leipzig were reportedly expected to pay to take Werner off Chelsea's books.

Werner played for Leipzig for four seasons before joining Chelsea in 2020. He remains the Bundesliga club's top scorer with 95 goals in 159 appearances.

Despite struggling to hold his own as Chelsea's primary center-forward, Werner recorded a respectable 23 goals and 18 assists in 89 matches for the Blues. He won the Champions League in 2021 and finished as a runner-up in the FA Cup and League Cup finals last season.

"His return means a lot to the supporters because Timo was a real fan favorite and figure of identification for a lot of people," Leipzig director Florian Scholz said in a statement.

"The transfer made a lot of sense to us, both because of Timo's quality and the financial aspects of the deal. Now we want to build on the success that we started together and achieve our goals with Timo's help. Not only does that mean qualification to the Champions League, but we also want to get as far as possible in the cup competitions."

Werner's relationship with Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel appeared to fracture in the summer. The 26-year-old complained about a lack of playing time after making just 15 starts in the Premier League last season.

Leipzig announced his arrival hours after confirming highly rated teenage forward Benjamin Sesko would join the club from sister outfit Salzburg next season.