RB Leipzig forward Timo Werner has been named as the Bundesliga’s Player of the Month for December, fending off competition from Marco Reus, Jadon Sancho, Philippe Coutinho, Philipp Max and Filip Kostic.
The award, created by the DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga in cooperation with the Bundesliga’s official licensing partner, EA SPORTS FIFA 20, is decided through a two-stage selection process that considers both the players' individual performance data and a vote by fans and experts.
Fresh from being crowned as the November Player of the Month, Timo Werner continued to torment Bundesliga defences into December, scoring five goals to take his tally to 18 at the halfway stage of the season. That haul also made the Germany international the sharpest shooter in Germany’s top flight for the month, while he had more efforts on goal (23) than anyone else in the league. The 23-year-old credited his new head coach as the reason for his incredible form: “I’ve become very versatile under Julian Nagelsmann and have already played in a few positions. I haven’t just played on the left or the right, but also as a No.10 or leading the line.”
Nagelsmann has likewise acknowledged the improvement from his free-scoring attacker: “Timo would often be parked out on the left and then get involved in counter-attacks, but now he moves between the lines and is more unpredictable.” The statistics more than back up Nagelsmann’s assertion. Werner’s five strikes in December not only helped Leipzig top the table over the winter break, they also broke the forward’s previous personal best of 17 goals in the first half of a season. Furthermore, his return of 18 so far is the best figure in the first half of a campaign by a German player since Dieter Müller in 1977/78. Never one to rest on his laurels, Werner is eager for more after the winter hiatus: “We can still improve a lot. If we can do that then maybe we can still be top at the end of the season."
Source: m.allfootballapp.com