Germany’s Timo Werner has been ruled out of the upcoming FIFA World Cup joining a long list of players who will miss the mid-season tournament due to injuries.
Werner suffered an ankle injury during RB Leipzig’s 4-0 win over Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League and went off in the first half but his coach Marco Rose did not think the injury was too serious after the game.
However, the forward appears to have torn ligaments in his ankle ruling him out of the tournament which begins in just a few weeks’ time.
“Scans today in Leipzig showed that he has unfortunately torn the syndesmosis ligament in his left ankle. Timo Werner will therefore be out for the rest of 2022,” the club said in a statement.
Germany’s coach Hansi Flick will name the squad next Thursday with their first game on November 23rd against Japan, before games against Group E opponents Spain and Costa Rica.
The 26-year-old is a mainstay in the German national side, having been the team’s joint-top scorer in qualifying for Qatar.
He has found the net 24 times in 55 games for his international team.
Since, returning to Germany from an underwhelming spell in England with Chelsea, he has rediscovered his form once again with his performance against Real Madrid a great example.
Timo Werner is not the only big name to miss the World Cup with Paul Pogba, N’golo Kante, Digo Jota, and Arthur Melo all confirmed to be out while Ben Chilwell of England and Son Heung-min of South Kore also major doubts for their countries.