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Werner welcomes pressure of £47.5m price tag during eight-game goal drought at Chelsea
The Germany international forward has been toiling in the final third but believes he will find a spark once fully adjusted to the Premier League
Timo Werner admits “it does matter how much you cost”, with the Chelsea striker looking to embrace the pressure of a £47.5 million ($64m) price tag rather than shy away from it.
The Blues spent big on a proven goalscorer over the summer, with rival interest from the likes of Liverpool fended off in order to bring the Germany international onto their books.
Werner’s prolific strike rate at RB Leipzig suggested that Frank Lampard had landed a frontman capable of spearheading a title charge at Stamford Bridge.
The 24-year-old has hit eight goals for his new club, but has failed to find the target in his last eight appearances across all competitions.
Questions are being asked of his end product, with some big chances being squandered, but Werner has vowed to live up to expectations in west London.
He told Chelsea’s official website heading into a derby date with West Ham on Monday: “It does matter how much you cost.
“It’s always a bit of pressure when you come to a new club and you want to score by your own but now you also want to score for your new team-mates, for your club.
“You have to score and the pressure you have in every new club, but I think I can handle it very well because I got the same pressure at my old club and everybody wanted me to score. It’s not something new to me but now it’s a new ground from where I’ve been so it's new people and new players around me.
“So the pressure is a little bit higher than the last years but I think good footballers are the best under pressure and that’s my plan, I can do very well under pressure.”
Werner is still finding his feet in new surroundings, but he can call upon the full support of his manager and believes a spark will be rediscovered once fully adjusted to the demands of life in England.
He added, having hit 95 goals in 159 outings for Leipzig: “The Premier League is a little bit different to my old league that I used to play in. I have to say it’s tougher than I thought. The contact here is harder than in Germany, it’s what I expected but not like this.
“I think it’s also hard when you play every three days and the Champions League and internationals and you have to play on Saturday against teams that can rest the whole week and think only about the game against you. It makes it not easy to be the best in every game but the Premier League is very fun to play in.
“The beginning was very good, now a little bit after a lot of games I don’t know if it’s normal but I’m struggling a little bit.
“There are lot of games at the moment and I think there’s some chances that I’ve missed two or three weeks ago that were not the best thing, but I think when you are new to a country and league it’s always a little bit hard to adapt and it should be no excuse. I should try to do my best to be the best footballer that I can be in this league and I think I’ll adapt well.”