Nick Woltemade is enduring the first dip of his Newcastle United career - but no player in the world is progressing as quickly as him.
That is the verdict from European football broadcaster Andy Brassell, who believes the striker is becoming one of the world's absolute best.
Woltemade is Newcastle's only recognised senior striker
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Woltemade is Newcastle's only recognised senior strikerCredit: Getty
Woltemade scored five goals in his first six starts for Newcastle following his club record £69million move from Stuttgart in August.
However, the German has found the net just once in his last six appearances, which included Sunday's 3-1 defeat to Brentford.
Bayern Munich's honorary president, Uli Hoeness, claimed the Magpies overspent on their replacement for Alexander Isak.
Yet the latter, whocompleted a British transfer record £125m movetoLiverpoolon deadline day, did not play a single minute of the Reds' 3-0 defeat away to Manchester City.
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“When we're talking about Isak, I think that's an interesting way to frame a discussion about Nick Woltemade, because I think obviously he's a different player to Alexander Isak in many different ways,” Brassell told talkSPORT.com.
“He wants to come and collect the ball a little bit like Harry Kane, I suppose.
“He's got everything you could possibly need in terms of being able to shield the ball, bring others into play, beat defenders with his quick feet, all of that sort of stuff, and the goals on top of it.”
On paper, Woltemade's Kane-esque nature to drop deep should benefit Anthony Gordon, Jacob Murphy and Anthony Elanga.
Indeed, it did so for Harvey Barnes, who scored the opener against Brentford, but Gordon is without a goal or assist in his last 19 Premier League appearances, while Elanga hasn't registered a single contribution since convincing Newcastle to shell out £55m to sign him.
And despite the lack of clear-cut opportunities, Woltemade has scored with every shot on target he has taken as a Toon player.
Woltemade is on his way to joining Haaland in the list of top Premier League strikers
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Woltemade is on his way to joining Haaland in the list of top Premier League strikersCredit: Getty
Woltemade hit the ground running at St James' Park
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Woltemade hit the ground running at St James' ParkCredit: Getty
Brassell argued that the 6ft 6ins striker will be transformed once he learns how to use his body, having enjoyed a meteoric rise to the top.
He added: “You feel like there's no limit really, that in terms of goals, it's going to get better and better and better, because he's not completely learned how to use his body yet, but the rate at which he's progressing is extraordinary.
“I can't really think of a player in world football who is progressing quite as rapidly as he is.
“Bear in mind, free transfer arrival at Stuttgart last summer from Werder Bremen, and we're looking at what, 16 months on, and he's a guy who looks as if he could move towards being one of the absolute best strikers in the Premier League/world, and the starter for Germany at the World Cup next year.
“And it feels as if we haven't quite scratched the surface in terms of what he's able to provide.”
Woltemade became Werder Bremen's youngest-ever Bundesliga player upon his debut in 2020 at just 17 years and 352 days.
Woltemade has adapted to England quicker than his fellow German, Florian Wirtz
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Woltemade has adapted to England quicker than his fellow German, Florian WirtzCredit: Getty
But he soon dropped down on loan to SV Elversberg in the German third tier for senior experience before returning to Die Werderaner.
In 2023/24, the 23-year-old burst onto the scene at Werder, but his only two goals in 30 games came during the same match.
Nevertheless, Stuttgart swooped to sign him, and the ‘Two Metre Messi’ rewarded them with 17 goals last season.
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Newcastle as a whole team have only managed 11 goals in as many Premier League games this term, with only Leeds, Nottingham Forest, and Wolves scoring fewer.
Woltemade has bagged four of them, with only Bruno Guimaraes (3) and Jacob Murphy (2) notching more than one in the top-flight.