The former Germany star has hit out at United's move to sign Nick Woltemade from Stuttgart
Football content editor for Chronicle Live, Sunderland Live, Gazette Live, Leeds Live, Yorkshire Live and Hull Live. A North East native, he has been working in sports journalism since 1995. Stuart has worked on the Sunday Sun, Chronicle and the Journal since move from the Gateshead Post in 1999.
Newcastle United's Nick Woltemade
Newcastle United invested heavily in Nick Woltemade(Image: Newcastle United via Getty Images)
Bayern Munich legend Uli Hoeness has hit out at Newcastle United's £65m capture of Germany international Nick Woltemade in the final days of the summer transfer window.
The Magpies paid a club record fee to bring the 23-year-old from the Bundesliga in what is something of a gamble for Eddie Howe and Co. The tall striker comes with a blossoming reputation in German football, but is relatively unproven at the very top level.
However, after a summer when prize frontman Alexander Isak made it clear he wanted to move to Liverpool, while an array of strikers turned down the chance to move to St James' Park, United were left with little choice but to get deals done before deadline day, with Woltemade joined by Yoane Wissa in the final hours of the window.
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Make no mistake, Woltemade is an exciting prospect who United expect can make a huge impact on the Premier League, but eyebrows were raised at the pricetag given his relative lack of experience.
After seeing Liam Delap, Joao Pedro, Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo, Hugo Ekitike and finally Benjamin Sesko all opt for other clubs over United, it's been something of a bruising summer for the club.
Add in the Isak saga, and things looked liked they would turn very sour at one stage.
Which makes Bayern Munich honorary president Hoeness' comments about Newcastle's spending all the more ridiculous.
“We’re very satisfied at FC Bayern," he told Sport1’s DOPA. "We are the real winners of the summer transfer window. We have a strong team and didn’t need to strengthen it much.
"Of course, we would have liked to have Florian Wirtz, but we’d never have bought him for €150m. We offered €55m for Nick Woltemade, while Stuttgart wanted €75 million. In the end he went to Newcastle for €90m.
"What Newcastle are doing has nothing to do with football. It’s like Monopoly these days”
The fact is that SEVEN Premier League clubs had a bigger net spend that Newcastle this summer - including newly-promoted Sunderland.
According to figures from transfermarkt, Newcastle had the 10th biggest net spend in Europe, and even when it came to outright investment, they were well behind the fortunes spent by Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea.
This if the first window for two years that United have been able to spend freely. The issues FFP and PSR have presented to the club have been well documented, with Elliot Anderson and Yankuba Minteh sold in 2024 to meet the strict financial rules.
Bayern, of course, splashed €120m to bring Harry Kane to Germany from Tottenham, spent €80m on Lucas Hernandez and €70m on Luis Diaz just this summer - as well as meeting the €50m release clause for Michael Olise last year while others hesitated.
It's all Monopoly money, Uli, but blaming Newcastle for stealing your big transfer target from under your nose just sounds bitter.