Tottenham decided to finally bring in some talented attacking players to help Ange Postecoglou navigate a world without Harry Kane, starting with the additions of Manor Solomon and talented Leicester City attacking midfielder James Maddison in the summer 2023 transfer window.
In that same window, they made an even bigger splash for the future, signing former Nottingham Forest winger Brennan Johnson, capable of scoring goals from either side of the formation, for nearly 50 million pounds.
Those moves look to be paying dividends for Tottenham, who eventually did purchase an out-and-out No. 9 to directly replace Harry Kane in the summer 2024 window, signing Bournemouth’s Dominic Solanke after a career year.
While Solanke’s 65 million pound fee certainly raised eyebrows, the 27-year-old has proven useful to Tottenham with three goal contributions in six starts and a hefty 2.6 combined dribbles completed and fouls drawn per game.
Solanke may have been overpay, but the most disappointing attacking contributor to join Tottenham in the Postecoglou era is actually someone I failed to mention – someone who joined the team in January.
Timo Werner can’t really be called a “flop” in a strong sense, because Tottenham are only on the hook for his wages. They acquired Werner on loan from RB Leipzig in January 2024 and then extended his loan for another season in May with the option to buy him later for just 8.5 million pounds.
That low price tag clues you in to both how poorly Werner’s reunion with Leipzig has gone and how underwhelming his first six months in North London were. If anything, it was a surprise to see Werner get another shot with Postecoglou, but since it was just another loan, nobody was really complaining.
Werner, a former Champions League winner with Chelsea, has performed so poorly to start the 2024/25 season that Tottenham fans are wondering why the club is even wasting their time with him.
Now, Tottenham may be feeling the same way, as German outlet Kicker report that Spurs would not object to Leipzig recalling Werner’s loan and sending him somewhere else.
The 28-year-old has started just two games this season, and while he has recorded an assist and impressed with his speed and athleticism, he isn’t able to fit the Spurs’ system and is unnecessary on the wings where the club have sufficient depth and talent.
As with Chelsea, Leipzig, and even the German national team, Werner has proven wholly incapable of playing at striker. He has never been the best fit for the Premier League, and so a move out of England entirely may be what’s needed for the experienced German forward to truly rebound.
The managing editor of The Trivela Effect, Kevin has 15 years of experience in digital media. He covered Real Madrid from 2019-2022 for The Real Champs as a site manager. You can contact him at the site’s official Twitter handle @TrivelaEffect or via the site’s official email thetrivelaeffect@gmail.com.