Timo Werner will reassess Chelsea future if he cannot force way back into line-up

Timo Werner will reassess his Chelsea future if he cannot force his way back into Thomas Tuchel’s team and another summer striker merry-go-round could offer him the chance of returning to Germany at the end of the season.

Werner was an unused substitute in Chelsea’s Champions League defeat to Juventus, despite head coach Tuchel making five substitutions in Italy, and the 25-year-old is said to be growing concerned about his position in the squad.

With his team a goal down and chasing the game in Italy, Tuchel sent on Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Ross Barkley, Trevoh Chalobah and Callum Hudson-Odoi, having brought on Ben Chilwell at half-time, ahead of Werner.

Werner wanted to stay and fight for his place after a difficult first season at Chelsea and the club-record signing of Romelu Lukaku, and he will continue to do so.

But he has only started two games, one in the Premier League against Manchester City and one in the Carabao Cup when he scored against Aston Villa, since Lukaku has been available to Tuchel.

Should he spend the majority of the season on the substitutes’ bench, then Werner is likely to consider a move away from Stamford Bridge.

Werner is believed to earn over £200,000-a-week, which means only a small group of clubs would be able to afford him, but a striker change around in the summer could provide him with a chance to return to Germany.

With Kylian Mbappe expected to join Real Madrid, Robert Lewandowski is being lined up to move from Bayern Munich to Paris Saint-Germain, leaving Bayern needing a striker.

Bayern could make a move for Erling Haaland, but might face competition from Real who have already budgeted for the arrival of Mbappe and will free up further substantial space on their wage bill with the departure of Gareth Bale at the end of his contract next summer.

Manchester City and Manchester United are also likely to look at Haaland, who is said to have a release clause in his Borussia Dortmund contract but that has never been officially confirmed.

Julian Nagelsmann, the Bayern manager, has worked successfully before with Werner at RB Leipzig and the player is thought to be on a list of potential targets, under Haaland, should they lose Lewandowski.

Werner has fuelled talk of a reunion with Nagelsmann at Bayern by switching to the Sports360 agency, who also look after the German coach.

If Bayern managed to sign Haaland, then Borussia could look to replace him with Werner, who scored 28 Bundesliga goals in the season before he moved to Chelsea for £47.5 million from Leipzig.