Woltemade was a second-half substitute for Germany against Switzerland
germany head coach Julian Nagelsmann gives Nick Woltemade instructions before his substitute appearance against Switzerland
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Germany head coach Julian Nagelsmann has been drawn into a fresh row over Nick Woltemade's form as he claimed 'things aren't going well' for the Newcastle United striker.
Woltemade came bursting out of the blocks on Tyneside after his club record £69million move from Stuttgart in the summer. The big striker scored four goals in his first five games as he adapted immediately to the Premier League.
That pace was never going to last, however, and Woltemade has only scored once in 2026, a strike against Aston Villa in the FA Cup. He hasn't notched in the Premier League since December 20 when he bagged a brace against Chelsea.
Recently, he has been deployed in midfield by manager Eddie Howe, a new position to the 24-year-old who has looked uncomfortable in a number of appearances in the middle of the park as he looks to adapt to an unaccustomed role. It has led to much speculation over how Newcastle get the best out of the talented German.
If Woltemade hoped that going off on international duty with Germany would be a welcome respite, it seems the opposite has happened after his substitute appearance for his country in the 4-3 win over Switzerland. The nature of the game - an uneven and at times poor performance by the Germans - saw some of Nagelsmann's selection decisions called into question.
One of which was the decision to bring Woltemade off the bench ahead of the in-form Deniz Undav, who is one of the leading Bundesliga scorers this term after a great spell with Stuttgart. Woltemade replaced Kai Havertz after 63 minutes but struggled to make a meaningful impression.
Nagelsmann, who has spoken about the player's role at United, defended his decision and said it was more important to try and rebuild Woltemade's confidence after his unhappy time at Newcastle.
"Nick has a great record with us and isn’t having an easy time of it at Newcastle right now," the Germany chief said. "Now I’ve got a choice: do I continue to boost the confidence of a top striker who’s in really good form, or drop another top striker who isn’t quite in such good form at the moment?
"We could always ask a few psychologists what they think about that. Probably the opposite of what I’m saying. It’s the hobby of psychologists who aren’t in the job to always claim the opposite of what all managers say.
“I’d say it’s advisable for Nick Woltemade to get back on track with us. Things aren’t going well at Newcastle and Deniz is on a run anyway. Whether he would have played today or not, it won’t change his confidence for this week.”
Woltemade started all six of Germany's World Cup qualifiers as a central striker and has four goals in his last three international matches for Die Mannschaft. He looks nailed on to go to the World Cup in the summer despite his indifferent form for Newcastle.
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