BRUSSELS — Newcastle United do not have to worry about Nick Woltemade.
The 23-year-old is a big man in every sense. Sizeable enough to tower over his teammates in the late Brussels sun as they trained at Anderlecht’s stadium ahead of Wednesday’s crucial Champions League league phase game against Bayern Munich but also blessed with the sort of quiet swagger that, you suspect, will eventually make the bewildering barbs that have been coming his way from Germany end up looking rather foolish.
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, club legend and board member at Bayern, had branded Newcastle “idiots” for coughing up £69m for Woltemade in the final week of the summer transfer window. It was the latest insult hurled Newcastle’s way after Bayern sporting director Max Eberl said the fee paid represented “an act of desperation”. Board member Uli Hoeness also said he wasn’t worth the club record fee.
It all seems a bit like sour grapes from the Bundesliga champions, who are not used to missing out on the best talent from their domestic league, and obscures the fact that Woltemade has made a pretty smart start in black and white.
Pressed into service sooner than had been envisaged due to an injury to Newcastle’s plug in and play option, Yoane Wissa, Woltemade is nowhere near integrated into an Eddie Howe system that is exacting in the standards it demands from players. Neither is he fully ready for the physical exertions of weekly Premier League games.
But for all of that he has two goals in three games and has quietly impressed behind the scenes with both his ability and the way he has handled himself. Aerially he is “better than we thought he was” according to one insider and there is a confidence in his own skin which bodes well for the future.
Woltemade’s Instagram hints at his big personality. He loves his fashion and deliberately wears an over-sized jersey. Handed a large zip-up training top for his first media engagement on camera (the size Dan Burn comfortably fits into), he sent it back asking for an extra large.
There is big potential too, although he is naturally going to get better when he begins to adapt his game to a system that will also need to bend to get the best out of the German. Possessing a workrate and willingness to learn that was enough to persuade owners PIF to sanction the deal (at 23 he falls into the age and potential bracket that gets deals done at Newcastle), Magpies fans should be “all in” on Woltemade.
As much as it would have been fun to hear Howe trade blows with German football royalty, he resisted taking a swipe on Woltemade’s behalf, instead insisting the comments and fee were “irrelevant”.
“The market forces dictate transfers fees – not necessarily any one club,” the Newcastle manager said.
“We’re very pleased to have Nick with us. He’s started very strongly in what has been a difficult period for him because he’s been thrust straight into action with no training time of note with us.
“He’s done really well. We’re really pleased to have him with us and the transfer fee is absolutely irrelevant.”
Having held him back against Barcelona, Newcastle must surely start with Woltemade on Wednesday evening for what feels like a huge game against the Belgian champions. Even if he only manages 60 minutes or so – Howe has taken him off in every Premier League game so far – it is surely worth the risk to give the Magpies’ season lift-off.
Sunday’s late sucker punch from Arsenal at St James’ Park means Newcastle are languishing in the lower reaches of a division they finished fifth in but their only defeats have been against the Gunners, Liverpool (the top tier’s top two) and La Liga leaders Barcelona.
That, along with a draining, distracting summer transfer window, provide context for their problems so far but it was encouraging to hear Howe reject the easy option of explaining the start away.
“Our expectations of ourselves are higher than that and we have to push the group for more. Our expectations of ourselves have to be of the highest form, otherwise we’ll never grow and we’ll never go forward,” he said.
There is also a different feel to Newcastle’s Champions League approach this season. If two years ago it felt like an experience – Jacob Murphy’s wide-eyed reaction to the competition’s theme song betrayed a naivety which ultimately cost them – this time Howe says that only getting through the first stage will be regarded as a success.
They have tweaked their approach subtly, too. They flew and trained at Anderlecht’s Lotto Park (where the game has been switched to due to USG’s ground not matching Uefa standards) rather than doing their prep work in Newcastle, as they had done in 2023.
Newcastle didn’t win a single away game in that campaign but need to make their fixtures count this time around.
“An away win would really elevate us,” Howe said – and he is right, in more ways than one.
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