Now approaching the end of his second season at Chelsea and living in London, Werner has grown to know his surroundings well. He tells us about exploring his new city, although for his sporting hobbies, his native Germany plays a big part…

Timo tees off

‘I am keen on other sports as well as football. I like to play golf with my friends and also my girlfriend, she also plays golf, and when it is good weather it is good to be outside. Otherwise, if inside, I like small sports with my friends like darts or pool or table tennis.‘On holidays sometimes I play tennis, and padel tennis which is similar. Those are a lot of fun.‘For playing golf I have a handicap, it is 28. I played for one year very seriously then I stopped a bit because I moved here to London. I started playing golf in Leipzig in my last year there and played a lot there because of Covid as there was a lot of time when we were not playing football. So by playing very seriously for one year I became good in this time, but now I don’t play so much. Most of the time now I play in the holidays.

‘When I came to London, I lived in the city, directly in Chelsea, so it was always one hour to a golf course and that was annoying, so I did not play so much.‘I did play golf with Kai one time, and also one time with some of the guys from the Chelsea staff. I think Marcos [Alonso] is very good at golf as well.‘I beat Kai, I think I am bit better because I trained a lot over that year, but Kai is not bad for a beginner.’

Speedy spectator

‘I do sometimes watch professional golf, it depends which tournament is on. Maybe if it is the Masters I watch but not regularly.‘What I do love to watch is Formula One. It is my favourite sport to watch after football because I can’t do Formula One myself!‘I have loved it since I was a kid because when I grew up, as well as footballers, my role model was Michael Schumacher because he was the biggest German sportsman in this time.

‘It was very good to watch Formula One at this time and after that I have always watched it. We’ve had another good German driver for a long time, Sebastian Vettel, and there are some good rivalries so I like to watch those.‘In Germany we have also good teams like Mercedes and because I played for Red Bull Leipzig, it was close to the Red Bull Formula One team so I support them as well. When we had the time to go to Formula One, we went to Red Bull so there is always that connection for who I support.‘I have been to Hockenheim in Germany, I have been to the Red Bull Ring in Austria – it is a dream I have to go to every single track where they drive in one year, but that is a dream I can realise after my career.’

Loving London life

‘Away from sport, I like to go for a walk with my family, with my girlfriend, with the dogs. If I am inside I also like to play a bit of PlayStation with most of the time the same people, but also to have fun I go around the city, because especially in London you can do a lot outside.‘When I first came to London everything was closed due to Covid so I slowly got used to London. At the beginning the traffic was not there, it was very empty, it was very silent, but then when everything opened you realised how big London is.

‘When we came here and we started to search for apartments, when everything opened we realised how good it is to be very central because you live with so many people around you, so many things you can do, so many restaurants, bars, pubs, and the shopping malls. Everything is around you and it is very nice to be in London.‘In Chelsea, around Sloane Square, I love to be there. Battersea Park because we go there with the dogs. Mayfair you go to when you want to have fun with your friends or if you want to go out for dinner, but this area around Sloane Square, King’s Road and Battersea Park, this is the area where I have been the most.‘I’m not really a clothes shopper but sometimes when I am bored and do not want to sit at home, I like to go around, go through Harrods to see people, go into the city to Bond Street, to walk there when it is good weather. It is not even to buy things, it is just to be around people, it is a lot of fun.’