Spurs’ Timo Werner loan talks and how they affect Postecoglou’s transfer plans

Tottenham Hotspur are in talks with RB Leipzig to extend the loan deal for Timo Werner by another season as the first part of the transfer plan that Ange Postecoglou said last week that he felt “really comfortable with”.

Spurs had an option to make the 28-year-old German’s move a permanent one for around £15million but have decided to instead seek another year on the current loan deal for a player who made an impact at the club but missed the final weeks of the campaign with a hamstring injury.

Postecoglou told football.london in Melbourne last week that talks were set to take place between the clubs for Werner.

“I think from our perspective there’s a deadline there. Again a lot of that will depend on the negotiations between the clubs and how Timo feels,” he said. “Again from my perspective I’m comfortable with that situation and I’ll let the other guys steer it to see what kind of outcome there is.”

Werner is believed to be keen to remain at Tottenham and Postecoglou enjoyed working with the experienced former Chelsea winger, who proved to be a useful addition on the left wing in beating his man and drilling low crosses across the six-yard box as the Australian demands.

The metrics backed that up as before his injury, they showed that Werner in his 12 Premier League games for Spurs, was top among wingers in the division for putting in crosses as well as putting them into the six-yard box. He also topped the charts in the division for his dribble success rate and winning offensive duels.

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Werner contributed five direct goal involvements in those 12 matches, not including passes that led to own goals for the opposition. On the other side of the coin, his finishing in front of goal was certainly something that let him down with a couple of high profile misses during his short spell at Spurs and that would need to improve next season.

Postecoglou told football.london earlier this month about a potential deal for Werner: “Timo we signed until the end of the season on loan and he’s part of that strategy to see what we need to do in the summer and can we do it.

“Are there going to be other gaps and where does Timo fit in with that strategy? So we have a plan in place, and that was irrespective. I think he’s been very good for us. He came in at a really important time in January when Sonny was away [at the Asian Cup] , then Richy got an injury.

“We were short in wide areas. Him coming in was very helpful for us and I think he’s made an impact but in my mind to make those definitive decisions, I still need some clarity about what we’ve got here first.”

Now that decision has been made. Postecoglou wants a number of attacking signings and from that point of view extending Werner’s loan could be an astute piece of business as it would not bite into Tottenham’s transfer budget for those roles this summer, yet would add an experienced Champions League-winning attacker to a squad that needs to expand to handle Europa League football next season in a bigger fixture schedule.

The Spurs boss said just a few days ago that “we’ve got a plan in place that I’m really comfortable with in terms of incomings and outgoings”.

That includes Werner, if another loan deal can be struck for him, and Postecoglou will likely see the German as a replacement for one of the set-to-depart Bryan Gil and Ivan Perisic, with another winger then to come in to replace the other. There is also Manor Solomon’s future to be decided when he returns from the knee problems that ravaged his season.

Postecoglou wants plenty of attacking additions this summer, with a striker high on the priority list, and he told football.london last week in Australia that it was a department that Spurs needed to bolster with more firepower and creativity.

“Yeah, absolutely. It’s no secret. You saw the way we finished the season. We obviously lost Richy and Timo as well with injuries but we’re fairly light in that area,” he said. “We started last season with Manor and Perisic and we were quite healthy in that front third in terms of numbers, but as the year went on it became pretty evident that we need to bulk up. We’re in Europe as well next year so we’ll have more games and it’s definitely an area of the park we’ll need to strengthen.”

Werner is not perfect, particularly in front of goal after being so prolific for Leipzig in his early 20s, but as a chance-creating squad option with experience in Europe and the ability to beat a man and get those low crosses into the box, he could prove to be a very useful part of the squad jigsaw for Postecoglou this season.

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