Timo Werner faces an uncertain future as he is seemingly unwanted by loan side Tottenham or parent club RB Leipzig.
The 29-year-old initially joined Spurs on loan in January last year and was extended last summer to run until the end of the this season.
While there was enough promise in the first six months for Tottenham to want to keep the German around, things have not gone well since.
It has been a very poor season for Spurs and Werner has not contributed much, with no goals in 18 Premier League appearances and one in 21 across all competitions.
Tottenham have an option to buy Werner in the summer for just £8.5m but it seems unlikely that they will take up that opportunity given his form and RB Leipzig sporting director Marcel Schafer appears to have confirmed that.
‘Timo Werner is currently at Tottenham. We spoke with his agent two or three weeks ago. I think the loan isn’t going quite as well as we might hope,’ Schafer told RB Live.
‘[Leipzig will] think about Timo Werner and all the players who are returning in the summer in due course.’
It does not seem likely that the forward has much of a future at Leipzig either, with Schafer adding: ‘We want to have a team on the pitch starting this summer that corresponds to what I’ve already answered several times.
‘We need a breath of fresh air, a new spirit, to recapture that attitude, that life, brutal energy that has distinguished this club.’
Even with Tottenham struggling with a lot of injury problems this season, Werner has started just four Premier League matches and has faced open criticism from manager Ange Postecoglou.
After a Europa League draw with Rangers in December, the Australian said of the former Chelsea man being subbed off.
‘When you’ve got 18-year-olds in the team, it’s not acceptable to me,’ Postecoglou said when asked about Werner’s withdrawal.
‘I said that to Timo, he’s a German international. In the moment we’re in right now – it’s not like we’ve got many options, I need everyone to at least be going out there and trying to give the best of themselves.
‘His performance in the first half wasn’t acceptable. We need everybody, including him, to be contributing because we don’t have the depth to leave people out if they perform poorly.
‘I expect a level of performance from some of the senior guys, and tonight wasn’t that.’
Expanding on those comments at a press conference on Friday morning, Postecoglou said: ‘We’re in a fight here. I’m not going to go around worrying about bruised egos. We want to achieve things, we want to be successful and we’re down to the bare bones in players.
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‘If someone is fit and able to contribute and someone who feels they need a bit extra [motivation], they are probably not the right person. If they can’t give me extra right now, that shows me where they are at.
‘We are in a difficult situation because of where we are squad wise. We have 15 fit players. If you want to make excuses there’s millions of excuses of them why they can’t be successful. If that’s you, move on, go somewhere else.
‘Last night wasn’t about Timo Werner wasn’t about him. It could have been someone else. Other players could have given more. It’s not about Timo, it’s about the situation we are in. It could be anyone. It’s not about bringing someone down or blaming someone.’
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