RB Leipzig boss Julian Nagelsmann has admitted to the Liverpool Echo that there is nothing more he can do to persuade Timo Werner not to leave, amid links with Liverpool.
Jurgen Klopp is apparently extremely keen on the idea of bringing Werner in, as he is a huge fan of the German striker.
Werner has had a wonderful season in the Bundesliga, where he has crashed in 24 goals in 28 games, to alert the attention of Liverpool.
Werner is now said to want a move to Anfield by Sky Sports.
And Nagelsmann admits that there is little he can do to stop Werner from departing now.
“There is nothing we can do about it anyway. He knows what he has in Leipzig and also what he has with me, I know what I have in him,” Nagelsmann said.
“And I show him that – similar to what I do with [Dayot] Upamecano – by letting him play every game from the beginning and if everything goes normally he is allowed to play through most games.
“He gets many chances to develop himself. That’s my job, I have to do that. I don’t know if it will help him that much if I tell him every day. I try to do it more with action.
“A player has to feel that he can get better. If he doesn’t feel that, it wouldn’t do any good if I kept on telling him to stay here. In the end it is his life, his career, he can decide that.
“That we’d like to keep him is completely normal. He has an exit clause until a certain date – I honestly don’t know when – and if a club comes along and he agrees with them by then, then that’s the way it is.”
The comments look like good news for Liverpool, with Werner seemingly edging closer to making a switch to Merseyside.
Werner’s current release clause is said to stand at around £50 million (Guardian), which looks a potential bargain for a player with his quality.
However, whether Liverpool will formally submit a bid for Werner this summer remains to be seen.
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