Newcastle United striker Nick Woltemade is already worth at least £100million now, according to Bayern Munich and Germany legend Lothar Matthaus.
Newcastle United paid an initial £65million to sign Woltemade from Stuttgart, a move which attracted criticism from senior figures at Bayern.
Indeed, Newcastle were branded “idiotic” for spending so much money on Woltemade by Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.
Uli Hoeneß, meanwhile, claimed such spending had “nothing to do with football” and was more like the boardgame “Monopoly”.
Still, Woltemade has shrugged all of that off. The forward has bagged six goals in 11 games for Eddie Howe’s side and will surely only improve as the season progresses.
Watching from afar, Matthaus has been impressed with the Newcastle star.
Nick Woltemade playing for Newcastle United against Spurs in the Carabao Cup.
Photo by Lewis Storey/Getty Images
Lothar Matthaus claims Nick Woltemade is now worth £100m+
The 1990 FIFA World Cup winner was speaking on BILD’s Bayern Insider podcast.
Asked about the striker, Matthaus suggested that Woltemade is now worth a “nine-figure amount”, which would put his market value at least £100million.
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Matthaus added that he expects Woltemade to remain at St James’ Park for a while before moving on.
“Well, first of all, I’m happy for Woltemade that he’s arrived in the Premier League, arrived so quickly,” he said.
“I was also pleased that he scored a beautiful goal with his shoulder against Northern Ireland, where we won 1-0. It was a well-placed goal, his first international goal. These sums aren’t just pulled out of thin air; it’s simply a fair market price, in my opinion.
“Even if opinions differ on that. And I’m all for that, not everyone can have the same opinion. But seeing how quickly he’s settled in at the Premier League, I’d say that if Woltemade were to make a move, that’s a nine-figure sum, because those four Premier League goals and his first international goal naturally make him a bit more expensive.
“But I hope, and I expect, that he’ll at least settle down a bit during his time at Newcastle before we take the next step.”
How Nick Woltemade feels about digs from Bayern Munich about his price
According to BBC Sport, Woltemade is understood to have shrugged off criticism from Bayern Munich legends and that is certainly playing out on the pitch.
The sheer variety of his skills have thrilled Toon supporters. Some of his flicks and tricks have delighted the crowd, while his heading ability is perhaps better than that was initially thought.
Clearly, a player of his profile would presumably be good in the air, but his aerial threat wasn’t often discussed until he actually started playing for the club.
It’s too early to suggest that Newcastle got the better deal when selling Alexander Isak and replacing him with Woltemade but the early signs on that are very promising indeed.
If Newcastle are ever going to sell Woltemade, it will surely need to be a fee approaching the one that took Isak to Liverpool.