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Liverpool, Chelsea and Man Utd have 12 days to buy Werner for less than £50m

  /  autty

Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester United have 12 days to trigger Timo Werner's release clause if they want to sign him for less than £50m.

The Germany international striker's €55m (£49m) release clause at RB Leipzig runs out on Monday June 15.

Werner's first-choice destination is still Liverpool but the Premier League leaders are not willing to pay the release clause in the current climate.

Chelsea and Manchester United have also held talks about signing the 24-year-old.

Werner wants to move to a Champions League club, where he will play regularly.

He signed a contract extension last summer which ties him down to Leipzig until 2023 and has scored 32 times this season, including 25 goals in 29 Bundesliga games.

A few weeks ago, it had been assumed Leipzig could be tempted to sell Werner for a lower fee after the clause expires, the thinking being that the coronavirus pandemic would cause prices to drop when the transfer window opens.

That was before Sunday, when Paris Saint-Germain agreed to take up their £51m option to sign Mauro Icardi from Inter Milan.

Werner is three years younger than Icardi and, if the Argentine is the benchmark, then Leipzig are unlikely to let Werner go for less than £50m.

Bayern Munich backed out of a €30m deal to sign Werner 12 months ago and the player appeared to rule out a move to Munich this summer when he said last month that he would prefer to move abroad.

Inter Milan wanted to sign him but their sporting director Piero Ausilio said last week that Werner would not be moving to the club.

In an interview with Viasport in February, Werner said Liverpool were the best team in the world and he has also described Jurgen Klopp as the best manager in the world.