Newcastle are closing
in on a deal to sign Nick
Woltemade from Stuttgart. Coveted by Bayern Munich, the Germany
international’s arrival would be a hugely exciting
addition.
Persistence and patience were key on Nick Woltemade’s somewhat
surprisingly long road from promising youngster to Bundesliga
star, and soon, £75 million Newcastle
United signing.
Suggesting he had to be patient may seem slightly sensationalist
given Woltemade was – at the time – Werder
Bremen’s youngest ever player (17 years, 352 days) in the
Bundesliga when starting a February 2020 defeat to Augsburg, but
any hopes of a rapid ascent were continually dashed.
That was his only league start of 2019-20, and just one more
followed in the next campaign, which proved something of a
nightmare for Woltemade. A virus “set him back somewhat” according
to sporting director Frank Baumann, as the youngster missed
Werder’s first six games of 2021. It took him another six weeks or
so get anywhere close to a return to fitness, when he suffered a
knee ligament injury in training.
He didn’t play again in 2020-21 and Werder were ultimately
relegated for the first time since 1980. While a season in the
second tier might have been seen as an opportunity for a young
player to establish himself, Woltemade also hardly got a look-in
during 2022-23.
After playing a grand total of 25 minutes across the opening
seven matchdays, appearing only twice, the teenager suffered a foot
injury that ruled him out for nearly five months. But even then,
while available for the rest of the campaign, his five outings
amounted to a measly 19 minutes on the pitch.
A subsequent loan move to the third tier of German football
might have been perceived as Woltemade’s potential slipping away,
but it proved a crucial step.
Most importantly, he was playing football, and consistent
minutes provided Woltemade the opportunity to showcase his rather
unique skillset and style of play at Elversberg. While 10 goals
from 31 league games won’t qualify as prolific, he also recorded
nine assists, an early sign – for the uninitiated – that he was no
ordinary number nine.
“I was actually really unlucky; if you look at our games, I
could have had more assists,” he insisted during an interview with
Werder’s official website in March 2023.
That throwaway comment is quite illustrative of the type of
centre-forward Newcastle are signing in Woltemade. Don’t expect him
to just wait around in the box for high balls that allow him an
endless stream of headed chances; no, although a giant of a man,
he’s probably one of the most technically gifted forwards in
Europe, and being able to exploit that when carrying the ball and
linking with teammates has been more important to his style than
his size or any desire to be a goal poacher.
For instance, after returning to Bremen from Elversberg,
Woltemade went on to make 30 Bundesliga appearances in the 2023-24
campaign, yielding just two goals (and they came in the same
match).
Granted, he played several different roles in attack and the
majority of his minutes in the first half of 2023-24 were from the
bench, but he still netted fewer goals than six of his teammates.
The fact is, isolating him up front and just expecting him to be a
goal threat would’ve robbed Werder of Woltemade’s greatest
talents.
Despite having to bide his time, in his second start of 2023-24,
Woltemade made a real impression on a grand stage. It was January
2024 and just his second top-flight outing as a starter since
October 2020, and he was filling in up top for the suspended Marvin
Ducksch at the Allianz Arena against Bayern Munich.
Within a few minutes he was dribbling his way past two Bayern
players and out of danger on the edge of his own box; then there
was a delicate flick through Matthijs de Ligt’s legs to help spring
a counterattack; soon after he was skilfully sidestepping a couple
of opponents before playing a long ball over the top that almost
led to a goal-scoring opportunity; he forced a vital intervention
from Dayot Upamecano when breaking into the box; his clever
backheel in the area yielded a deflected Mitchell Weiser effort
that nearly found the top-left corner. And all of that was just
inside the first 24 minutes.
Bayern struggled to keep a lid on Woltemade because he kept
dropping into deeper positions looking for the ball and then had
the technical quality to retain possession even under pressure,
using it smartly more often than not as others ran beyond him. His
influence waned once Werder went ahead in the second half and he
was withdrawn, but it was a performance that earned him praise. Not
that his qualities surprised anyone at Werder.
“We weren’t scratching our eyes, because we know what Nick can
do,” head coach Ole Werner said afterwards.
Club director, Clemens Fritz, added: “Nick is simply unpleasant
to play against, because he always has the ball at his feet. He
kept the ball under control and played it into space well.”
Having started just one Bundesliga game beforehand that season,
Woltemade went on to be named in the first XI 10 times in their
following 16 matches, including each of the last six of the
campaign. Werder were unable to keep hold of Woltemade, however, as
the 21-year-old opted against signing a new contract and instead
joined Stuttgart,
where his game reached a new level entirely to earn him his first
international call-up and attract serious interest from Bayern.
But once again, patience was needed. Woltemade didn’t start a
Bundesliga game at all for Stuttgart until 23 November, and he also
wasn’t registered in their Champions
League squad. He had to make do with the minutes he could get
in the league and a couple of appearances in the DFB-Pokal.
A goal in each of his first two cup games – as well as one off
the bench in the league against Eintracht Frankfurt – hinted he was
primed to step up when given the chance, and in early December, he
took full advantage.
Stuttgart found themselves 2-0 down at home to Union Berlin
shortly after Woltemade’s half-time introduction, but he scored two
excellent goals in eight minutes to turn the game around. First, he
pounced on a deflected pass and skipped past the goalkeeper after a
feint to slam home; then, he expertly controlled an incisive ball
from midfield and broke into the box, losing his marker and cutely
nudging his finish beyond the keeper into the bottom-right
corner.
From then until the end of the season, 17 of Woltemade’s next 21
Bundesliga appearances were as a starter, and he quickly became a
key figure. Sure, he carried goal threat, but his general play and
the positions he took up meant he stood out – though that was also
helped by the fact he’s nearly two metres tall.
Make no mistake, there can be something jarring about
Woltemade’s style of play. Or perhaps that should be surprising?
The thing is – and forgive us for potentially veering into ‘good
touch for a big man’ territory here – players of Woltemade’s build
are unusual enough. When you then add in nimble footwork, silky
skill and a deceptive turn of pace, it can catch you off guard.
The key point here is, Woltemade isn’t quite your conventional
target man. Obviously, his height does give him an advantage in
some situations, and his 114 aerial duels contested last term saw
him rank 13th among Bundesliga forwards. But of the 18 forwards who
tallied at least 100 aerials in 2024-25, 11 bettered his success
rate (44.7%). He has improved aerially, for sure, but there’s far
more to him than simply being very, very tall.
As alluded to already, Woltemade is subtle – graceful, even.
Happiest with the ball at his feet, he ranked sixth among nominal
centre-forwards in the Bundesliga last term for dribble attempts
(73), though his 1,620 minutes played was fewer than all of those
above him.
Not unrelated to that, his 9.8 ball carries – movements of at
least five metres in possession – per 90 was the sixth most among
centre-forwards (900+ mins) in the Bundesliga last season. While
that is a strength of his generally, and aided by his close
control, it also manifested in decisive situations.
After all, his four goal-ending carries was bettered only by
Jamal Musiala and Omar Marmoush (5 each) across the entire league
in 2024-25. That those four came from just seven shot-ending
carries reflects very well on his maturity and decision making.
It’s also worth noting that only 10 players – just two of whom
could be considered centre-forwards – bettered his 13
chance-creating carries. And that being almost double his
shot-ending carries tally also speaks to a certain on-pitch
level-headedness.
Essentially, the creative side of the game is probably where
Woltemade’s qualities shine most.
For starters, among nominal centre-forwards in the Bundesliga
last term (900+ mins), Woltemade comfortably led the way for
open-play chances created per 90 with 1.9. It wasn’t just a case of
him playing short passes to teammates who’d have a go from range
either; no, he brought genuine creative ingenuity to Stuttgart.
His 0.25 expected goals (xG) assisted per 90 was the same as the
widely lauded Florian Wirtz and bettered by just six players in the
whole division. Woltemade’s vision in the final third has long been
praised as one of his greatest assets, and this is a pretty
effective way of quantifying that.
But just because some of Woltemade’s most notable strengths
revolve around dropping into deeper positions, linking the play
together and being a creative force, it doesn’t mean he isn’t also
useful in the box.
While his goals record prior to joining Stuttgart was hardly
exceptional, we must remember he frequently played roles that
required him to be something other than just a fox in the box, and
first-team football was often difficult to come by. He took on a
more focal point last term and that was reflected in his improved
record in front of goal, which was arguably better than it
looked.
Twelve Bundesliga goals might appear modest, but those were
netted at a rate of one every 135 minutes; only three players aged
23 or under last term bettered that across the top five European
leagues.
Similarly, his record of 2.6 non-penalty shots per 90 was a
highly respectable figure for a player who also carried
considerable creative responsibility.
And on that note, it’s important to observe where those shots
have been taken from; all but one of his 46 non-pen attempts came
from inside the area, which again is a positive sign for a player
who likes to drop deep and get involved in the build-up.
Similarly, his 9.4 touches in the opposition’s box per 90 since
the start of last season is the third most in the top five leagues
(1,700+ mins). It all suggests he does a good job of balancing
these responsibilities.
Furthermore, Woltemade ranked fourth among Bundesliga
centre-forwards (900+ mins) for proportion (17.8%) of off-ball runs
into the area that made him available for a cross while a teammate
had possession in a wide area, evidence of him being proactive in
attack even when not in possession himself.
And when chances did fall to him, Woltemade was reliable. His 10
non-penalty goals came from 8.0 non-pen xG and he boasted a shot
conversion rate of 24.5%, the fourth best among Bundesliga players
to attempt at least 40 shots in 2024-25.
In short, Woltemade was one of the most rounded centre-forwards
in Europe last term, with it no wonder Bayern pushed hard to sign
him earlier in the window. He was one of just six such players from
the top five leagues (900+ minutes) to average at least 2.0 shots
(2.7), 0.3 non-pen xG (0.44), 7.0 touches in the opposition’s box
(9.8) and 1.0 open-play chances created (1.9) on a per-90
basis.
It’s undoubtedly been a frustrating transfer window for
Newcastle, but pulling a deal for Woltemade out of the hat with the
deadline closing in would be an impressive way to ease the malaise
at St James’ Park.
From a neutral’s perspective, the hope is we get to see
Woltemade linking up with Alexander Isak, because what a prospect
that could be.
But even if the Germany international ultimately proves to be
Isak’s replacement, Woltemade’s arrival should be considered an
exciting coup.
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