Timo Werner's move back to the Premier League on loan with Tottenham Hotspur offers a road to redemption with the once-vaunted striker's career at a crossroads.
Werner, 27, signed from RB Leipzig until the end of the season on Monday. The six-month deal includes an option to make the transfer permanent in the summer.
Much of that will depend on how well Werner adapts to life back in England. His last spell, at Chelsea, included a Champions League winner's medal, but few at Stamford Bridge would consider Werner's two-year stay from 2020 to 2022 a roaring success.
Tottenham will hope the Werner they signed mirrors the one that terrorised them over two legs in the 2019/20 Champions League. The dynamic forward scored the only goal in the away leg and tormented Serge Aurier so much at Leipzig's Red Bull Arena that Jose Mourinho replaced him with an untested 17-year-old Malachi Fagan-Walcott.
“I’m very happy to be here – I think I joined a very, very big club,” Werner told Tottenham’s website. "I spoke with the [Spurs] manager [Ange Postecoglou] and it was a really good talk.
"He gave me straight away the feeling what I need to join a club and what I want to feel when you talk to a manager.
"Also, that tactics and style, how he wants to play. For me, I thought straight away that it fits perfectly. I hope I can be the best player I can be here.”
Germany can ill afford a poor tournament, particularly on home soil. A disastrous 2022 World Cup saw the four-time champions dumped out at the group stage for a second successive time and patience with Nagelsmann is already wearing thin.
Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann has struggled for results since taking charge of the national team. Getty
Werner could go some way to helping his former club coach. In June 2016, Nagelsmann convinced Leipzig's Red Bull owners to part with a then club record €10 million to sign the 20-year-old Werner from Bundesliga rivals Stuttgart. Nagelsmann, less than a decade older than Werner, helped nurture a talent that relied on blistering pace to get behind opposition defences from a wide left position to devastating effect.
Leipzig prospered. Werner would earn a big-money move to Chelsea while Nagelsmann would succeed Flick at perennial German champions Bayern Munich.
The moves were met with mixed success. Werner collected a Champions League medal with Chelsea in 2021, starting the final in Porto against Manchester City. It was another German international, Kai Havertz, who emerged as the hero though, scoring the only goal of the game. He was sold back to Leipzig in 2022 for £25 million, a full £28 million less than what they paid for him two years previous. Nagelsmann, meanwhile, lasted less than a year at Bayern despite guiding the Bavarians to their now customary Bundesliga shield in his first season.
Werner has started only four matches this season, scoring twice in 14 appearances across competitions. He missed Saturday's friendly with St Gallen because transfer talks were taking place with Tottenham.
His move is subject to international clearance but Werner could be available when Spurs play at Manchester United in the Premier League on Sunday.
Tottenham are fifth in the Premier League, six points behind leaders Liverpool.
Sole survivors
Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Review: Tomb Raider
Dir: Roar Uthaug
Starring: Alicia Vikander, Dominic West, Daniel Wu, Walter Goggins
two stars
Sid Jhurani is not the first cricketer from the UAE to go to the UK to try his luck.
Rameez Shahzad Played alongside Ben Stokes and Liam Plunkett in Durham while he was studying there. He also played club cricket as an overseas professional, but his time in the UK stunted his UAE career. The batsman went a decade without playing for the national team.
Yodhin Punja The seam bowler was named in the UAE’s extended World Cup squad in 2015 despite being just 15 at the time. He made his senior UAE debut aged 16, and subsequently took up a scholarship at Claremont High School in the south of England.
- At 9.16pm, three suicide attackers killed one person outside the Atade de France during a foootball match between France and Germany - At 9.25pm, three attackers opened fire on restaurants and cafes over 20 minutes, killing 39 people - Shortly after 9.40pm, three other attackers launched a three-hour raid on the Bataclan, in which 1,500 people had gathered to watch a rock concert. In total, 90 people were killed - Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the terrorists, did not directly participate in the attacks, thought to be due to a technical glitch in his suicide vest - He fled to Belgium and was involved in attacks on Brussels in March 2016. He is serving a life sentence in France
Match info:
Burnley 0
Manchester United 2
Lukaku (22', 44')
Red card: Marcus Rashford (Man United)
Man of the match: Romelu Lukaku (Manchester United)
Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup - Sept 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side 8 There are eight players per team 9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one. 5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls 4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership
Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.
Zones
A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
White hydrogen: Naturally occurring hydrogen Chromite: Hard, metallic mineral containing iron oxide and chromium oxide Ultramafic rocks: Dark-coloured rocks rich in magnesium or iron with very low silica content Ophiolite: A section of the earth’s crust, which is oceanic in nature that has since been uplifted and exposed on land Olivine: A commonly occurring magnesium iron silicate mineral that derives its name for its olive-green yellow-green colour
EA Sports FC 26
Publisher: EA Sports
Consoles: PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox Series X/S
Rating: 3/5
Wicked: For Good
Director: Jon M Chu
Starring: Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Ethan Slater
Here are a couple of Valentine’s Day food products that may or may not go the distance (but have got the internet talking anyway).
Sourdough sentiments: Marks & Spencer in the United Kingdom has introduced a slow-baked sourdough loaf dusted with flour to spell out I (heart) you, at £2 (Dh9.5). While it’s not available in the UAE, there’s nothing to stop you taking the idea and creating your own message of love, stencilled on breakfast-inbed toast.
Crisps playing cupid: Crisp company Tyrells has added a spicy addition to its range for Valentine’s Day. The brand describes the new honey and chilli flavour on Twitter as: “A tenderly bracing duo of the tantalising tingle of chilli with sweet and sticky honey. A helping hand to get your heart racing.” Again, not on sale here, but if you’re tempted you could certainly fashion your own flavour mix (spicy Cheetos and caramel popcorn, anyone?).
Jeff Buckley: From Hallelujah To The Last Goodbye
By Dave Lory with Jim Irvin
