Eddie Howe admits Nick Woltemade has had a lot thrown at him behind the scenes at Newcastle United.
Woltemade is already a Newcastle United hero after helping supporters forget all about the Alexander Isak saga.
Indeed, the German striker has scored six goals in 11 games for Howe’s side and will surely only improve as the season progresses.
The 23-year-old’s fine start to life on Tyneside, however, is not to be taken for granted. It wasn’t always just going to click.
Thrust into the deep end because of Yoane Wissa’s injury, Woltemade was dealing with an awful lot of pressure and constant digs about his price tag from the German media cannot have been helpful.
Now, Howe has opened up on what has been happening behind the scenes.
Nick Woltemade celebrates scoring for Newcastle United against Spurs.
Photo by Jan Kruger/Getty Images
Nick Woltemade’s limited training time has helped Newcastle United star shine
The Newcastle United manager does not currently have the benefit of much training time.
Newcastle’s fixture schedule is relentless and will be up until at least January as they look to battle across a number of different fronts.
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Howe believes that such a tight schedule may have helped Woltemade. There’s been no time to settle in gently, with the striker needing to get up to speed as quickly as possible.
“I think a lot of condensed work,” he said of Woltemade’s training time at Newcastle to Sky Sports.
“I think that’s been behind the scenes, that’s what’s been happening. I think from the minute we got him, there was no time to wait. It was right, ‘Bang hit him with a lot of information of what we wanted him to do, how we wanted him to play the role’.
“But credit to him that he’s taking it, he’s absorbed all the information and I think it’s helped him in some respects, a quick understanding of what the team require him to do.”
Newcastle United insiders blown away by Nick Woltemade
Newcastle’s coaching staff have been impressed with Woltemade’s ability and his attitude since joining the club from Stuttgart.
The early indications would certainly suggest the club have struck gold in the transfer market again.
Woltemade is happy at Newcastle and it will be exciting to see what he can do once he’s fully up to speed.
Wissa’s return from injury will likely lighten the load, which should help. Though both are seen as centre-forwards, it will be fascinating to see what the two can do together.
The ease with which Woltemade has taken to life at Newcastle has been remarkable. It’s surely only going to get better from here.