Newcastle United legend Alan Shearer has given his thoughts on new striker Nick Woltemade and his role in the one nil win over Wolves over the weekend.
The Premier League all-time top goal scorer praised Woltemade’s performance, and not just the goal, but his all around play.
Speaking to Gary Lineker on the Rest Is Football podcast, he said: “I thought it was a very promising debut, obviously the goal is the highlight and it was a brilliant header.
“The timing of it, the way he got around it and the power. I was really, really impressed with that, but I thought his overall game was good.
“I thought his link-up play was good. He gave Newcastle a threat, which they haven’t had in the first three games.”
Shearer then went on to give his opinion on the team’s overall performance, an honest assessment of the game as a whole and Woltemade’s relief heading into another big game on Thursday night:
“It was a game Newcastle had to win, it was an important game to win. As I said they made hard work of it even going into the latter stages, because they’d only scored one.
“I thought it was going to be one of those days where you’ve had chances and you’ve had the possession, and all of those things they might get punished.”
“You can imagine how he’s (Woltemade) feeling. Young boy, what is he? 23, coming into Newcastle for all that money, pressure on.
“So, you understood how he felt and the relief and everything else. So he would’ve slept well last night, he really would. And he’ll be looking forward to the next game, Barcelona on Thursday, what a game!”
Lineker was also full of praise for our new £69m striker, adding: “It’s so important when you’re a big new signing, if you can half make life a lot easier if you get off to a good start. But he does look a real talent, they might have unearthed another one there.”
In response, Alan Shearer brought up Woltemade’s price tag and the situation of his fellow striker Yoane Wissa:
“They’ve obviously paid a lot of money for him, and for Wissa. Wissa was injured, because… Isn’t it mad isn’t it, you haven’t played any football for god knows how long, and then you get chucked into two international matches, and then all of a sudden you’re out injured.”
“The rumours are that it’s not an ACL, it’s just gonna be four or five weeks. I hope that’s the case, but I think as you’ve (Lineker) just said, a new signing getting off the mark so early, a centre forward, exactly what’s needed.”
Woltemade looks to continue his hot start at Newcastle in the Champions League, against Barcelona, one of the best teams in the world and semi-finalists in last year’s competition.