Arsenal legend Arsene Wenger says Chelsea forward Timo Werner will be the favourite player to win the Euro 2020 player of the tournament.
The German star joined Chelsea from RB Leipzig for £47m last summer and helped his new team to Champions League glory and to fourth position in the Premier League.
Werner notched 12 goals and 15 assists in his debut season in England, but his big misses – including two very presentable opportunities in the Champions League final – have been a major talking point.
But Wenger sees the value of Werner beyond the numbers. He told beIN Sports: “I like the quality of his runs. I like his movement, but he’s not… we see his conversion rate with the number of chances he has.
“He’s not good enough to say, but he will be absolutely the favourite to be the player of the tournament [Euro 2020].”
Fellow German international Kai Havertz has also had a difficult start to his life at Stamford Bridge, with Wenger conceding he was left “quite amazed” by his struggles.
Havertz joined Chelsea in a £72m deal from Bayer Leverkusen last summer, but struggled on his arrival. He took time to settle as a 21-year-old in England during the pandemic and was laid up with Covid-19 himself.
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But his form picked up dramatically after Thomas Tuchel replaced Frank Lampard in January, and he scored the only goal of the Champions League final to win the competition for Chelsea.
Wenger says he’s a huge fan of the playmaker and was pleased to see him adjust and perform well in the latter part of the campaign.
“I believe that Havertz was very disappointing at the start,” Wenger added. “I liked him and I was quite amazed how much trouble he had at the start to settle.
“He adjusted, adapted, he came back, he suffered, he spent his period on the bench and came back again. To me, he is a very promising player. I would bet on him for the future.”
