Timo Werner is set to cost Chelsea €50m, rather than the previously claimed €60m, although the two clubs are yet to agree how that price will be paid.
The German striker is set to move to Stamford Bridge this summer, with news emerging yesterday that the Blues had moved ahead of the competition for his signature.
Bild reported that Werner has already agreed to a five-year deal, which will see him earn €10m a year after Chelsea promised he would be the focal point of their team and something of a poster boy.
The impending move caught plenty off guard, mainly as Werner has been consistently linked with a move to Liverpool for the best part of a year.
It is Chelsea, though, who have made their move, looking to take advantage of Werner’s release clause, which needs to be activated before the end of this month.
Reports have indicated that clause stood at €60m but Kicker say that isn’t the case and it is actually €50m, around £44.8m.
They claim that the ‘last modalities’ of the deal still need to be clarified, with AIPS journalist Chris Williams claiming this is around how the price will be paid.
In other words, Chelsea are negotiating whether they will pay the €50m upfront or in two instalments.
Those details are set to be ironed out in the next week, when Werner will sign his five-year deal with Chelsea and ‘make use of’ his exit clause on June 15th.
Should the deal be finalised at €50m as expected – Kicker claim Leipzig are refusing to comment on the price – the German striker will become the Bundesliga side’s second most expensive sale after Naby Keita’s €68m move to Liverpool in 2018.
He will also represent a considerable profit for Leipzig, who paid just €14m to sign him from Stuttgart four years ago.
