Why Tottenham Hotspur are waiting to trigger €17m signing: report
Timo Werner was slow to get off the mark for Spurs but has now scored in two of their last three games
Tottenham Hotspur are interested in completing a permanent deal for Timo Werner but are reportedly in no rush to trigger a €17 million buy option.
The German international arrived on loan from RB Leipzig in January with the hope of reinvigorating his career, which had stalled over recent years.
Since first moving to the Premier League with Chelsea in the summer of 2020, Werner has lacked consistency and scored goals at a much slower rate than he did before.
There was a sense that he still had unfinished business in England and wanted the chance to force his way into Julian Nagelsmann's plans ahead of the Euros.
Out of favour at Leipzig, a loan move to Tottenham represented a good opportunity for Werner to play regular football for the rest of the season.
He initially helped cover for Son Heung-min while the Spurs captain represented South Korea at the Asian Cup, and then Richarlison was sidelined with a knee injury.
After an erratic start, Werner scored in important wins over Crystal Palace and Aston Villa, prompting speculation that his loan move could be made permanent.
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According to transfer expert Fabrizio Romano, Tottenham are interested in keeping Werner beyond the end of the season but are still assessing their options.
"It's all about strategy. Some clubs decide their strategies around the end of April/beginning of May, not in March. The player has been at Tottenham for just two months and there are still two more to come," said Romano.
"Spurs want to evaluate the forward a little longer and see how he performs during all the big matches left this season. The Premier League club will then decide whether to pay Werner’s €17m buy option, which for me, is totally normal.
"Werner is happy at Tottenham and is open to staying at the club beyond this season, but Spurs will take their time in deciding the forward’s future amongst other things."
Tottenham are currently fifth in the table with 10 games remaining as they target a return to the Champions League under Ange Postecoglou.
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Sean Cole is a freelance journalist. He has written for FourFourTwo, BBC Sport and When Saturday Comes among others. A Birmingham City supporter and staunch Nikola Zigic advocate, he once scored a hat-trick at St. Andrew’s (in a half-time game). He also has far too many football shirts and spends far too much time reading the Wikipedia pages of obscure players.