Timo Werner has insisted he developed into a better player during his time at Chelsea, and his spell at Stamford Bridge is viewed harshly.
Werner returned to former club RB Leipzig earlier this month, joining the German side in an £18m deal.
That brought an end to a two-year spell at Chelsea, who he joined in a £47.7m deal from Leipzig in July 2020 after four very impressive years with the Bundesliga club.
A tally of 96 goals and 40 assists in 160 games had him as one of the hottest strikers in Europe and there were big expectations for him to repeat that at Chelsea.
He struggled to do that, though, managing just 23 goals and 21 assists in 89 games for the Blues before his departure this summer.
His time at the club is seen as a massive failure by man, but Werner does not subscribe to that line of thinking.
“The first season was viewed too critically. From the outside, but also from myself. The first season created a restlessness in myself that was unnecessary,” he told BILD.
“We had won the Champions League, I was top scorer, we reached the Champions League again after a difficult season. In the end, everything was good!
“The fact that people still saw me so critically, even though I was top scorer, broke an Eden Hazard record – this negative response after a relatively good season annoyed me.
“Especially since Romelu Lukaku was signed for the next season and put in front of me.
“I didn’t realise until later that I was far too negative about the signing. My perspective was wrong. I asked myself why he was put in front of me. Why is he coming now? The plan was for me to storm together with him.
“So mentally I was in a one-way street: if I had seen the big picture behind it, it would have been less bad. Now I have a different perspective on things.
“I have expanded my footballing repertoire and become more mature. We played extremely possession-oriented football at Chelsea under Thomas Tuchel. I became a better player in England.”
