Given that his entire career seems to peak in his early 20s and inexorably slide over the intervening years, I'd say he's a perfect fit for us. I mean, we've had retired-on-the-job players, coaches, GMs, etc. for YEARS! We sort of specialize in it.
“Report: Timo Werner re-worked contract to make San Jose Earthquakes move happen” (Bavarian Football Works - Tuesday, 1/20/26) (Getty Images) GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
So even this deal isn't done yet... what does that mean for all the other deals this team needs to make to be competitive in 2026... around 10 days after training camp started and with only a month until the regular season. According to a report from Sky Germany journalist Philipp Hinze, RB Leipzig attacker Timo Werner is taking a severance package of €2 million from the club as part of the transfer arrangement. The contract restructuring will save RB Leipzig €3 million and help push Werner’s deal to San Jose through quicker: Sky Info: RB Leipzig is paying Timo Werner a severance payment of around €2m as part of the transfer to San José Earthquakes. Werner would have earned just over €5m in salary until the summer. This means Leipzig “saves” around €3m & is settling with Werner for about €2m. RB is still in talks with San José about whether a small transfer fee (low six-figure) will be paid or whether it will be a completely free transfer. Final discussions, then the transfer to MLS will go through. @SkySportDE RB Leipzig wanting a transfer fee for Werner is interesting, especially because the club was reportedly focused on removing Werner’s salary from the team budget as the primary driver for the move. Regardless, the move for Werner seems very close to coming to fruition.
We aren’t just signing some other team’s castoff, we’re signing their problem child. He’d better be excellent for us. I mean Josef M level good, routinely. What the hell are we doing?! Go Quakesfans!!
Timo's speed has been one of his best assets. He's had a number of injuries over the past few years. I wonder if he's lost a step or two and it's made a significant dent in his effectiveness. In 24/25 he missed 63 days due to the always devastating and highly specific "thigh problems". Before that, a syndesmotic ligament tear (high ankle sprain) - out 61 days. And a hammy in there too as well (out 41 days).
Josef didn't take up a DP slot and didn't cost a transfer fee to acquire, Timo Werner better be better than Josef M level good.
Sure, he's way more expensive than Josef. Josef was our leading scorer last season. In general, I thought that Josef played well for us. So, Timo needs to be our leading scorer, or leading assist guy and second leading scorer. He can't be a slouch. In terms of bang for buck, it's unlikely that he'll top Josef. Maybe if he scores goals by the bucket load we would consider him better than Josef. And what sort of influence will he be in the locker room? I'm not optimistic. Go Quakesfans!!
He doesn’t necessarily have to score more than Josef if he can contribute more to the buildup and get assists. That’s the one knock on Josef. He’s pretty much a pure poacher.
Notice that I said leading scorer or leading assist guy. So yeah, I’m no board with this. Timo needs to contribute to the attack in addition to scoring goals. He has to help make up for the loss of both Josef and Cristian. Yes, Benji needs to help make up for the loss of Cristian too. That OR we need to sign three or four more starters. In any case, I am expecting a terrible season. Go Quakesfans!!
If I was a fan of any other team but the SJE, I would LOVE munching popcorn while seeing how an all-speed-no-skill Euro guy will do. As an actual fan, who cares about the actual results...
FWIW, I'm not sure that an "all-speed-no-skill" guy doesn't do better than a "no-speed-skill" guy in MLS. It's a running league. You'd better be able to run.
Didn't we have this forward from South America who ran fast to catch on through balls but could not finish? It was in the new stadium era. He did score a last minute winning goal in the final season game at home to take us to the playoff. I forgot his name. Starting with U?
Urena was actually not really fast. I used to say that he had a good 4th gear but no 5th. He'd run all game in 4th gear and it appeared that he was fast, but when he needed a burst - a 5th gear, he didn't have it. Couldn't get separation. A better example might be Innocent. But there's no way Timo could be even remotely that bad.
Where the F- is Timo?! Isn’t this our big signing of the off season? What’s happening? Worst off-season that I can remember.
I am hoping the lack of activity is a sign of an imminent sale, but, the tumbleweeds are rolling most preseasons for us, so, most likely business as usual. ☹️
This feels different to me though. We’ve got something like 6 or 7 open senior roster spots, it’s almost Feb and we’re playing our first preseason game, and we haven’t filled one. I don’t think we’ve even announced the Tomo Allen signing have we? I would say that every day that goes by w/o a signing the more likely that we're putting a hold on spending pending a deal that is hopefully relatively imminent. It's possible...
Aside from maybe some lawyers it seems like most people connected to the Quakes organization who are involved in player acquisitions, scouting/analytics, trades, etc. would not be the same ones working on finalizing the sale of the team... plus would the new owner really prefer they NOT spend a few million to fill out the roster and field a somewhat competitive team that they're about to take over? And even assuming we're not just wishcasting or coping out of desperation/boredom, if true the question is: Will Quakes fans forgive yet another "lost season" (let's define that as 20th or lower like 2/3 of seasons so far this decade) if the sale is finalized over the next few months and they're happy with the new ownership group?
I’m not forgiving spit! And I’m assuming that the communication blackout applies to nearly everyone in the organization. Also, this assumes that the sale of the team is actually in progress. It could just be that we suck, and that RottenFish is done spending money on us. This is inexcusable. If this were a blackout period, then coming out of that we could hear about five or six deals. BUT, we are hearing about Timo Werner. So, I don’t know WTF is going on. And I’m pissed about that, and the apparent lack of progress, and the evident lack of concern Go Quakesfans!!