· 5 September 2025, 11:00
After a long, long summer for Newcastle United fans, the Magpies finally got their new talisman through the door when they signed German international Nick Woltemade from VfB Stuttgart in a £69 million deal.
The 23-year-old was involved in a summer-long transfer saga of his own when it looked like the 6'6" striker was destined to move to Bayern Munich.
However, a failure to agree on a fee saw Newcastle swoop in and take advantage of the stand-off, making Woltemade their new record transfer.
Woltemade has to wait to make his Newcastle debut, but Geordies could see their new striker in action last night as Germany suffered a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Slovakia.
Advertisement
3272
Getty Images
Nick Woltemade needs to keep playing to keep his place in the Germany squad
Julian Nagelsmann advised Nick Woltemade against moving to a club that couldn't guarantee him minutes
Nick Woltemade was in from the start for Germany after the German national coach, Julian Nagelsmann, had spoken to Woltemade over the summer about his potential transfer away from Stuttgart, as reported by GOAL.
"I think it’s unfortunate on all sides that everything was played out so publicly. Of course, I gave him some advice - not where he should move, I don’t do that - but that players have to play [regularly]. I didn’t consider a few of the summer transfers to be entirely fortunate. Because then players go from 100% playing time to 15%.
"That doesn’t do me much good as a national team coach. I told Nick he’s welcome to move to Bayern if he wants to. But he should also make it clear to them that with 25% playing time, things would be tight for him for the World Cup."
Advertisement
Nick Woltemade will compete with Yoane Wissa for a starting place at Newcastle
It remains to be seen how much game time Woltemade will get at Newcastle this season, as there's expected to be a period of adjustment as he gets to grips with the Premier League.
Yoane Wissa is expected to lead the line for now, but with it being a World Cup year, we're sure Woltemade will be pushing all the way.
Hopefully, that extra incentive will mean that he tries harder to force his way into the Newcastle side.