The 25-year-old joined Premier League giants Chelsea from Bundesliga outfit RB Leipzig on a big money deal last summer, putting pen to paper on a five-year deal.
However, the move has not gone according to plan for Chelsea and Werner so far, with the Germany international struggling to establish himself as a regular goalscorer.
Reflecting on Werner’s time at Stamford Bridge so far, former Chelsea star Leboeuf explained that the forward started well, but then started struggling after losing confidence.
Leboeuf, who sympathises with Werner, stressed the need for the German to feel assured in front of goal and went on to admit that it will be difficult for him to compete with Romelu Lukaku for the number 9 spot.
The Frenchman also insisted that the former Stuttgart forward still has to prove that he is worth the money Chelsea paid RB Leipzig for his services last year.
“Timo Werner started well when he first signed for Chelsea and he was scoring goals but suddenly he lost his confidence“, Leboeuf said as he spoke exclusively to Ladbrokes for its 5-A-Side bet on Brentford vs Chelsea.
“As a striker you should be scoring goals and not thinking about it, you should just be doing it and not worrying about if you miss the shot or where the goalkeeper is going to go, but if you have confidence you don’t wonder because you’re already sure, so you go for it and that’s exactly what he’s lacking right now.
“I feel pretty sad for him, he’s coming back a little bit and scoring a couple of goals but it’s going to be hard for him to fight Lukaku.
“Maybe there’s some room for him on the left side or the right side but it’s tough competition and you have a front line filled up with talented players like Havertz, Ziyech and [Callum] Hudson-Odoi so it’s going to be complicated for him.
“He signed for a large amount of money and he has to prove that he’s worth it.“
Leboeuf, who also expects more from Chelsea duo Hakim Ziyech and Kai Havertz, is hopeful that Werner will start firing on all cylinders for the Blues soon.
“I expect more from him, but I also expect more from Ziyech and Havertz“, Leboeuf added.
“Everybody is happy with Havertz because he scored the goal in the Champions League so he’s a legend forever now, but if we check what he did last season and what he’s doing now – and of course he’s young so we need to calm down and be nice to him – I want to see more from him because I know he can be much better than what he is showing right now.
“Werner showed his talent when he was in Germany and you cannot lose it, but he needs to find it again – it’s like riding a bicycle as you never forget.
“I want to give him more time as we’ve seen so many players struggling for two years and then suddenly flying, so I hope he’s going to do that otherwise he’s going to be a failure.“
Werner has scored two goals and provided one assist from eight appearances across all competitions for Chelsea so far this season.
