Pundit Jamie Redknapp has likened Chelsea striker Timo Werner's struggle for form to Didier Drogba's early days at the club.
Wener has struggled to find the net since his £47.6million move from RB Leipzig, netting four goals in 18 Premier League appearances and it has been suggested that he is struggling for confidence.
The 24-year-old started from the bench for Chelsea's win over Fulham on Saturday and missed a huge chance to break his 10-goal drought in the league.
But while Werner might come in for criticism from many after another missed chance, pundit Redknapp has urged him to remain patient, highlighting that even Chelsea great Drogba struggled in his early days at the club, scoring just two in his first nine league outings and 10 across his first season.
“After 17 games at Leipzig last season, he got 18 goals. His confidence was running through his veins," said Redknapp on Sky Sports.
"I remember seeing him get in that sort of position and him scoring all the time. You can never underestimate what confidence is like. Frank said something really interesting, the only thing you can do when you’re having a bad spell is to work harder.
"Get a bag of balls in training and practice. He’s got a manager there that did it, he had the best attitude. If he works hard, he’ll get lucky and it can change him. Didier Drogba didn’t hit the ground running at Chelsea.”
Former Chelsea defender Wayne Bridge was a pundit for the game and replying to Redknapp, he added: " He didn’t, then look at what he ended up doing.
"He’s very young, coming from a different country, it’s very hard. I can only say how it was for me, I went from Southampton to Chelsea up the road and that was hard enough because you’re playing in a team where everyone moves differently.
"He never had a proper pre-season, so he didn’t have time to settle in and know the lads better than what he does, feel part of the team, feel at home - it’s been difficult times.”
Werner's missed chance is what will dominate conversation amid the German striker's struggle for form, especially given it's the type of chance he would have put away without a though last season.
But due to his struggle for confidence, it might just have been the worst type of chance for Werner to have, according to Bridge.
“He went through at the end there and you were just begging for him to put it in the back of the net," he said. "It’s what he was doing all the time, it’s a confidence thing.
"It’s not as easy, people think confidence doesn’t have that effect, but it can, depending on what type of player you are. For me, being a left-back, it’s probably easy because I wasn’t having chances on goal all the time and I’d probably have a steady game.
"But if he’s having chances and not putting them away, it’s going to carry on playing on his mind. That chance there, he’s broke from the halfway line and he’s got time to think about it.
"He’s got so much time, which is probably what he doesn’t need right now, he needs a chance to come to him, for him to snap at it and put it in.”
