Nick Woltemade's first year in the Premier League has been a complete failure, a financially difficult operation for Newcastle, who after just one year were forced to loan him to Juventus, so as not to have a player bought for 90 million euros on the bench. He was bought from Stuttgart for an exaggerated amount, but no one expected his season in England to go so badly: at 198 centimeters tall, he is not the classic center-forward of the strict zone and with Howe he has always found himself outside the ideal context to give his best.
Criticism began immediately after his arrival, even though he scored the winning goal on his debut. But he was one of the few positive moments of the entire championship, where he scored only 8 goals in 33 games, a performance far from that of top-level strikers. But what is even worse is the way Newcastle's directors have considered him: according to the Dailymail, it was "a panic-driven purchase at an inflated price", a description that is not at all flattering and, to say the least, worrying.
Why Newcastle sacked Woltemade
To focus solely on statistics would be a very superficial analysis of the German's season, which had little in common with Newcastle's style of play. He paid the price of the €90 million spent on his card, an impulsive purchase at an excessively high price, as the English club's directors admitted, worried that they had not made the big move of the summer transfer market. Moreover, the Magpies did not build a team suitable for his characteristics: those who expected the classic, large and static center forward of English football faced a giant who is not very good at heading, but who is very skilled with his feet and excels at receiving the ball between the lines, being able to retreat to the midfield area to look for the ball.
Woltemade is very technical despite his physical size and is able to make the team play in a wonderful way, directing the ball and creating opportunities for others to score. Playing with his back to goal is not for him, but that is exactly what Howe wanted from his center forward. A harmful contradiction was created for the German national team striker, who scored very little, fueling even more discussions about him. He was even activated in midfield for a short period to exploit his characteristics, a quick experiment that also did not prove successful.
Panic buying
According to the Dailymail, Newcastle's management immediately admitted that it was a striker bought in panic conditions, without first making the proper assessments. Woltemade was also left aside by new coach Jaissle, who does not need a player like him for his new team, built on a different way of organizing (the two victories in the first two Premier League games are proving him right).
For this reason, the 90 million euros spent on the German weighs even more and the pure loan for 5 million euros to Juventus on the last day of the transfer window (with the salary paid by the Bianconeri) was Newcastle's desperate move not to waste a crazy investment. An attempt to help him raise his head after a terrible year, with the initial mistake made by those who bought him, driven by the fear of being left with a team with insufficient alternatives.
