I am down on Adeyemi because I actually followed him rather closely last year. And he was really, really bad the second half of the season in Salzburg (the whole team had a bad second half but Adeyemi was especially disappointing given expectations). He will have to first prove to me that he can make it at Dortmund before I realistically consider him for anything NT related.
I am not sure about your first paragraph. IMO Werners weaknesses would hamper the likes of Nkunku and his further development (if you can even call it that given how good he already is).
Leipzig has so many guys that I have somewhat high expectations for (not only on offense but these guys would be impacted by Werner) that should take the next step this year. : Olmo (who ruined his last season with playing the EM and the Olympics but who should be back now at full force), Szobo (needs to show his incredibly talent and see game time) and even Silva (who has to prove that his stint with Frankfurt was no fluke and who is probably crucial if they want to really challenge for anything).
All Werner would do is disrupt their hierarchy and salary structure IMO and block these guys and their development.
I watched them from the very start of the season too, but I have a tough time blaming any individual for Salzburg sputtering down the stretch. They ran away with the league so early and so many of their key players were distracted by their offseason plans, that the collective losing focus was inevitable.
Even with a coach as talented as Jaissle seems to be...and I'm a lot higher on him than I was on Marsch or Rose's work with RBS...it's hard to blame any of their players for losing intensity once Bayern had bounced them from the CL.
Did you catch any of Karim's NT cameos? He fit right in and looked exactly like he did for Salzburg in the first 2/3rds of the season + last year. So he just needs to continue doing what he's already doing for the NT, if/when Flick gives him a bigger opportunity.
Of course, he needs to continue to develop & prove himself at higher & higher levels to make the most of his talent, but I have nothing but optimism towards him after the past 12-18 months. He appears to have matured by leaps & bounds since getting kicked out of Bayern's academy.
I guess it depends on how Werner was used and his mindset towards coming back; i.e would he come back with an inflated ego or the desire to re-prove himself, or something in between? I would like to hope he felt more re-energized & wanted to re-establish himself, but you're right that you can never know.
Obviously, if he was used as a classic 10 behind Silva; while coming back all arrogant & lazy; that would be an absolute disaster for them. But if he was used the way Flick uses him; leading the press & making space for the attacking band behind him?
That should only lead to more opportunities for guys like Nkunku, Szobo, Olmo, Angelino, & Baku to rush into dangerous positions from which to create or score, than they get with Silva parked in the middle as the spearhead of their attack.
Silva would be squeezed out of their best 11 & relegated to a joker role in the biggest matches in that scenario, but they could also play Werner off of Silva...the way they used to play Timo when he was there and the way they played their creatives off of Silva after Marsch was fired last season.
That second approach would mean Timo's arrival added more competition to those spots around Silva, but rotating between the two systems based on fitness & opposition should leave plenty of PT for everyone as long as they don't s*** the bed in europe early.
Bayern will have 6 established attackers + 2 or 3 starlets + ECMC that will all play this season. Leipzig has no kids who will even get cameos; so they would have enough PT for Silva, Poulsen, Werner, Nkunku, Szobo, Olmo, & Forsberg...even if they all stayed abnormally healthy this season.
Poulsen might not play very much without injuries and Silva would not be featured the same if they opted for a more Flick-like usage of Timo...but the top talents I mentioned in my last post, should only do better with Timo making space & pressuring the ball for them instead of Silva.