Chelsea manager Frank Lampard received a warning as far back as last summer about the struggles Timo Werner may encounter in the Premier League.
Werner's former manager Julian Nagelsmann was speaking to BT Sport, as reported in The Mirror after RB Leipzig's Champions League quarter-final victory over Atletico Madrid, and his words seem less conjecture and more fact now.
RB Leipzig had beaten Atletico without Werner in the team due to the German international's transfer to the Blues but Nagelsmann had suggested that Diego Simeone's team would have been a tough opposition for Werner anyway.
He said: "The opponents are not perhaps the best for Timo Werner because there’s not a lot of space behind the defensive line.
“Today we decided to play with three offensive midfielders to create the spaces between the lines, and all the three midfielders did very well.”
The 33-year-old manager knows Werner's game inside out and his worries about the striker's ability to beat a deep defence have proven to be true.
Werner has struggled to adapt to life in England with the German star scoring just four league goals all season and none since November.
Blues boss Lampard has backed Werner in public ahead of the last two Premier League matches but Lampard has not selected the German to start either of those fixtures.
Werner has instead appeared as a substitute against both Fulham and Leicester, missing two good chances at Craven Cottage on Saturday and made little impact for his team in the 2-0 defeat to the Foxes.
Lampard said: "It’s very normal for Timo and the other forward players who have come in that it will take some time to get used to my ideas and their teammates’ ideas.
“We haven’t had time on the training pitch for that. That can only be done at full pace in training, to work on the high press. That’s why the last two weeks have been really useful.
“I think his performances have been pretty good and I think they will get better the more he works with his teammates."
The question is if Nagelsmann could see these issues why couldn't Lampard, and is it too late for him to do anything about it?
Lampard is clinging onto his job following Chelsea's poor first half to the season and Werner's poor form is certainly not helping the boss make a case for why he should remain the man in charge at Stamford Bridge.
