Nick Woltemade of Newcastle United celebrates scoring his team's third goal during the Emirates FA Cup Fourth Round match between Aston Villa and Newcastle United at Villa Park on February 14, 2026 in Birmingham, England. (Photo by Dan Istitene/Getty Images)placeholder image
Nick Woltemade of Newcastle United celebrates scoring his team's third goal during the Emirates FA Cup Fourth Round match between Aston Villa and Newcastle United at Villa Park on February 14, 2026 in Birmingham, England. (Photo by Dan Istitene/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Nick Woltemade has started Newcastle United’s last four matches as a central midfielder.
Woltemade arrived as a striker following his £64million club-record move from Stuttgart but has started the last four matches on the left-hand side of the midfield three.
The 24-year-old first moved into the midfield for the FA Cup fourth round tie away to Aston Villa and scored in the 3-1 win to end a run of 14 games without a goal.
However, after struggling during Tuesday’s 3-2 Champions League play-off second-leg win over Qarabag, his suitability for the role has sparked debate.
Newcastle United urged to play Nick Woltemade at centre-forward
And weighing in on that debate is Klinsmann, who is adamant that Woltemade should be utilised as a number nine.
Klinsmann told ESPN FC: “My feeling is it is not his place, I see him clearly as a pure number nine, a traditional number nine who holds up the ball and plays with everyone else around him.
“He’s trying this out right now Eddie Howe and the kid will not complain, he will do whatever the coach tells him to do but it is not ideal for him because his big dream is going to the World Cup this summer for Germany.
“He started really well with Newcastle, got a lot of positive comments from everywhere, so I hope it doesn’t put him down in some way.
“I see maybe the approach of him dropping back into midfield to help out in a 4-5-1 formation but obviously his qualities are up front and in the box. He smells the ball, he knows where it comes, he’s strong in the air - obviously, he is a very tall kid.
“In the next couple of weeks, we’ll see how he utilises him.”
Eddie Howe defends Nick Woltemade’s move into midfield
Despite concerns, Howe insists Woltemade’s role isn’t too dissimilar to the one he plays for Germany.
“The role isn't to dissimilar to how Germany have used him anyway,” Howe said. “If they've played him as a nine, they've asked him to come into lower positions, so I don't think it's a big change. And I'm sure their manager will look at it and go, ‘if he's doing well for Newcastle, he's playing minutes, then that is only going to help his cause.’
“They know what he can do. Obviously, coming through the youth system there, so I think they'll have no doubts about his strengths and what he can offer the national team.”
“I've had many conversations with Nick on sort of a broad range of subjects, really,” Howe added. “I think even when he's playing as a number nine, as we used him, it wasn't to stretch the line, it was to come lower on the pitch.
“I think in terms of his Germany career, without speaking for Nick, I think him playing well in any position for us is only going to help supplement that.
“Nick is very, very happy playing the role that he has done the last few games. There's no sort of fight with him on that. He's very much all in because he wants to showcase his best skills and his best skills is technically helping his link play.
“I think what we've seen, which maybe has surprised me even to a point, has been his tactical understanding and his ability to understand the press, understand what he needs to do defensively. He's been excellent.
“He does have a sort of freedom on the ball to take up central positions. He has the freedom to drift to a degree across the pitch, so he's not sort of stranglehold by the position into one place.
“I think hopefully we'll see the very best of him. But his position isn't fixed. We can change however we see fit, depending on the game.”
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