Timo Werner not up to Liverpool standard, club legend Robbie Fowler says

Liverpool legend, Robbie Fowler, has said that Chelsea bound Timo Werner is not up to the standards of Jurgen Klopp's striking force.

His statement comes days after the RB Leipzig agreed to a deal in principle to sell Werner to Stamford Bridge instead of Liverpool who were front runners in the race to sign the forward.

Fowler believes that the likes of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino are of better quality than the RB Leipzig star.

"I’ve heard the noise ­surrounding, Timo Werner, in recent weeks – but I’m not a big fan," Fowler wrote in his column for the Mirror.

"I realise he’s a talented player, he has moments of real brilliance in matches that underline his quality.

"But I stand by this: is Werner up to the standard of Liverpool’s current front three? Not for me.

"There has been so much rumour around his intended destination for months now, with my former club at the heart of that, but most of the other big names in European football have been linked to him.

"I’ve also seen the meltdown from some Liverpool fans when they ­realised he’s probably not leaving RB Leipzig for Anfield after all.

"It makes it seem as though he’s a Marco van Basten, a world-class player who would walk into any side.

"For the life of me, I don’t know why. I’ve watched him a fair few times and there are things about his game I like and admire.

"But does he influence games consistently enough? Not for me. Does he match up to the players you are signing him to challenge and replace? Not at Liverpool. Maybe at Chelsea.

"And that’s the important point I think supporters forget. I’ve heard so many people ­complaining about Liverpool owners not splashing the cash, not diving in on ­Werner when he’s a ‘steal’ at £52million. Is he really, though?

"This is the reality – all those other clubs, Barcelona, Liverpool, Juventus, Real Madrid, Man City and United have looked at him and thought, in the current market, his release clause fee is too high.

"How do we know that? Because otherwise they would have activated it.

"To be honest, I see a situation where Chelsea saw perhaps the only circumstance in which they would sign Werner. That they had to pay the ­release fee to get him – because other clubs wouldn’t. In short, they had to pay a massive premium to make him come to their club. We’ve seen it before with clubs struggling a tiny bit – they pay over the odds to get players. City had to do that for a while, Chelsea themselves too.

"At times, Liverpool have done that over the past two decades. It rarely worked for them."