Chelsea’s £53m striker Timo Werner ‘not a natural goalscorer’, says Darren Bent as German’s goal drought stretches to NINE games

Darren Bent claims Chelsea striker Timo Werner is ‘not a natural goalscorer’ after the Germany international’s goal drought continued against West Ham.

The 24-year-old did get an assist in the 3-0 victory at Stamford Bridge, but his failure to find the net extended his run without a goal to NINE games.

Chelsea spent £53million on the new frontman in the summer, hoping that he would give Frank Lampard the additional firepower he so needed last season.

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Much was expected of him after slamming home 78 goals in 127 league games for former club RB Leipzig, and his arrival - together with the signing of countryman Kai Havertz - led to plenty of pundits tipping the Blues for a Premier League tilt.

But instead, despite a not terrible record of eight goals and six assists in 21 appearances, he has struggled to settle and really get going in front of goal.

Part of the problem has been Lampard’s tactics, talkSPORT pundit Dean Ashton has claimed, with Werner starting the West Ham game out on the left wing.

“I see him out on the left and I couldn’t feel more sorry for him,” the ex-Hammers striker said on Sunday. “He looks lost and very frustrated in that position. He’s a through-the-middle, off-the-last-defender striker.”

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Lampard, though, disagrees, insisting the German can play anywhere along the front-three and insisting he WILL get back to his best in a Chelsea shirt.

But Bent believes Chelsea perhaps haven't got what they paid for, saying that, while he’ll help create plenty of goalscoring opportunities, Werner is not a naturally-gifted finisher.

Speaking on Tuesday’s talkSPORT Breakfast, Bent said: “I think he’s not a natural goalscorer, and you can see that from his finishing,

“But because of his movement and his pace, he’ll always get opportunities, especially with the way Chelsea play.

“He’s just got to calm down in front of goal. He looks like he’s snatching and his touch…

“Because he’s so worried about the finish, sometimes he’s losing track of the ball with his touch.

“He needs to get the ball under control. He needs to calm down. Relax!

“With Werner, we’ve seen that he can do it. If you look at his goal in the Carabao Cup against Spurs, he had a good touch out of his feet and it was a lovely finish.

“A lot of it is just confidence. When you’re scoring goals, you feel like everything you hit goes in and every game you play you’re going to score.

“But right now Werner is probably thinking, ‘urgh, where’s the next goal coming from?’

“And he’s panicking a little bit.”