Woltemade's 12 months on Tyneside are set to come to an end as he is set to join Juventus on loan
Matthias Jaissle with Nick Woltemade during the pre-season friendly match between Newcastle United and Bayer 04 Leverkusen
Nick Woltemade has now arrived in Turin ahead of completing his season-long loan move to Juventus, with Newcastle United's club record signing leaving the club just 12 months after his £69million arrival from Stuttgart.
Few would have envisaged it would have ended that way at the time and even fewer would have predicted it after he scored nine goals in his first three months on Tyneside. But since mid-December, Woltemade hasn't been the same player. The goals dried up (he has scored just twice in 2026) and there were question marks over his best position.
He didn't look suited to the centre-forward role under Eddie Howe, he looked even less at home when the former Magpies boss moved him into midfield in a doomed experiment across February and March, and he didn't do enough in the number 10 role when Howe moved from his tried and trusted 4-3-3 formation to a 4-2-3-1 system.
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Throughout that time, as pressure built on Howe amid a string of disappointing results, the question always lingered in the background over whether Woltemade had to adapt to Newcastle or Newcastle needed to adapt to their record signing.
There is no doubt Woltemade is a seriously talented footballer and that is why he polarised the fanbase so much. Even now, a Chronicle Live poll asking if Woltemade will play for Newcastle again, it was almost split down the middle. 48 per cent of our readers think he will come back from Turin stronger and ready for a second chance while 52 per cent feel his substitute appearance in Saturday's win over Tottenham will be his last.
His quality is obvious but it was a question of whether the manager needed to find a better way to mine that talent or whether he just simply wasn't suited to Newcastle's style or the rigours of English football.
Howe's departure allowed us to get an answer to that question as Matthias Jaissle succeeded him as head coach. Jaissle is a compatriot of Woltemade's and is close friends with Stuttgart boss Sebastian Hoeness, the coach who has got the best out of the 24-year-old so far in his career.
Woltemade was tried as a No 10 and as a No 9 throughout pre-season and failed to make any tangible impact on the game. By contrast, Joe Willock, who had been linked with a move to Besiktas, did make a meaningful impact and when Jaissle made changes in the second half of the opening game of the season against Liverpool, it was telling it was Willock he turned to and not Woltemade.
Willock scored Newcastle's second goal of the game and has started in the No 10 role in each of the last two games. Jaissle informed the Newcastle board he did not want to lose the 27-year-old.
That meant Woltemade was given a chance as a centre-forward against West Brom in last Wednesday's Carabao Cup win but the game passed him by. With efforts accelerated to bring in Matias Fernandez-Pardo from Lille, Woltemade always felt like the likely casualty.
The amount of interested parties in Woltemade only underlined his quality but it spoke volumes that none of his suitors were from the Premier League. Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig had interest in bringing him back to Germany, Atletico Madrid were credited with tentative interest to bring him to Spain, while Napoli, Fiorentina and Juventus were among his Italian suitors.
And it was Juventus who struck a deal with Newcastle and he will now ply his trade in Serie A. The likelihood is he will have a successful season in a league that suits his technical qualities much more than the hustle and bustle of the Premier League.
The debate will probably come back to Tyneside over whether he will be reintegrated into the side. But the reality is that he just simply hasn't fitted into the plans of two managers now at St James' Park and the likelihood is he never will.
It feels right to have a clean break now and not allow the sideshow that took hold in the second half of last season where questions over why, where or how Woltemade is playing in the team to rear its head again.
Jaissle has made an excellent start and fans have eight new signings to get behind and buy into. He is at a point where he can make a decision like this with almost universal backing. With a young squad, Newcastle do not want any unwanted distractions to take hold.
By sanctioning Woltemade's loan exit, Jaissle has kicked that can down the road for another 12 months. The whole of Tyneside will wish Woltemade well. There is no ill will and he gave his all for the club. It just did not work out and the fact Newcastle have arrived at that conclusion now will benefit all parties in the long term.