Nick Woltemade of Juventus
Nick Woltemade is on loan at Juventus
Nick Woltemade is already enduring a tough time in Turin with Juventus as the Italian media rounded on him this week - just two months into his move to Serie A.
The £69million man missed a chance from close range in Germany's UEFA Nations League encounter against Serbia and despite the 2-0 win for his country, it hasn't stopped La Gazzetta dello Sport going in hard on the 6ft 6in centre-forward.
Woltemade did not want to leave Newcastle in August but was told that Matthias Jaissle had accepted a loan bid from Juve and while he could have stayed to fight for his place, the best option was to leave and get game-time in the eyes of the head coach.
Woltemade has just one goal from the penalty spot for Juve in four appearances but has yet to truly get up and running for the Serie A side. Reports in Italy suggested that Juve were already considering other options in January in attack leaving a big question mark on Woltemade.
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But Chronicle Live understands that there is no get out clause for Juventus and he can't simply be returned to Newcastle. Juve are already in a contractual situation with Newcastle where they MUST pay every penny of Woltemade's weekly wage, over £150,000 per week, until June.
And while Juventus don't have an obligation to buy Woltemade, something which Newcastle are still open to, they are essentially lumbered with the ex-Stuttgart man until the end of the 2026/27 season.
Woltemade's future at Newcastle though looks bleak with Jaissle's recruitment team assessing a range of strikers ahead of the next two windows.
There was summer interest from Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich, while a clutch of clubs in Turkey, including Galatasaray, also took a look at Woltemade.
The German star has played down talk of an early struggle in recent weeks and said: "I'm in a new country and with a new language. I still have to find an apartment; for now, I'm in a hotel.
"I learn something new every week. I'm still not happy with how I'm playing—I want to continue improving and helping the team."
"I see Juve as the best opportunity to develop my playmaking and help the team."
Sporting director Ross Wilson has made it clear that without Woltemade's exit on loan, the arrival of Matias Fernandez-Pardo from Lille would not have been possible, he said: "Because we try to link things together, the ultimate deal for Matias Fernandez-Pardo was only possible because we did the Woltemade deal.
"The ultimate deal. Now, if we didn't do the Woltemade deal, we might have done another deal, but that's what we mean by linking things together."
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