The Nick Woltemade question.
What next?
Will Nick Woltemade still be a Newcastle United player when the clock strikes 11pm on Tuesday 1 September 2026?
Will the transfer window close with the Germany international set to be part of the Newcastle United squad taking on this tough 2026/27 season?
There have been rumours of Newcastle United looking at signing a striker and other rumours of one or more clubs interested in signing Nick Woltemade.
All media stuff of course but just sometimes there is something that proves to have been true…
I like Nick Woltemade and would love him to be a long-term success at St James’ Park but is that the reality?
The talk of the former Stuttgart striker having a terrible first season is ridiculous.
He ended up starting 36 matches across the four competitions and scored 11 goals. A very inexperienced young striker moving to a different club, different culture, different league, the toughest league in the world, I don’t think his first season was in any way a failure overall. Especially in a small squad that struggled to cope with a near impossible 58 match schedule.
The question is though, will there be a second season for Nick Woltemade at NUFC?
As I say, I do like him, but unless he is played up top I simply don’t see him playing much this season, or having much impact if he does.
I think you need to be controlling matches and getting plenty of possession up in the final third to get the best out of him as the lone main striker, whereas I think the reality is that Newcastle United will be playing more on the break this coming season and relying on quicker players to give a threat.
In that case, it is difficult to see past Yoane Wissa and William Osula getting most of the starts up front this coming season. Then of course you have that possibility of the club maybe considering bringing in another striker as well…
As the club’s record signing (£65m plus a potential £4.3m extra in add-ons), there is of course that massive extra layer of pressure on the club and the player, where Big Nick is concerned.
To keep him and not play him would feel like a huge Elephant in the room.
What makes it easier in many ways to believe Nick Woltemade might be sacrificed, is that neither Ross Wilson or Matthias Jaissle were here when Big Nick was signed.
Not that I blame Eddie Howe at all for the Nick Woltemade signing, if indeed any blame needs to be pointed at all, at anybody.
It was the Newcastle United owners who failed miserably to deal with the Alexander Isak situation last summer. Refusing to sell him and making clear he would not be leaving, only to then do a complete u-turn at the last minute. Eddie Howe had wanted the likes of Joao Pedro and/or Hugo Ekitike last summer with Callum Wilson coming to the end of his time at the club and then the Isak situation exploding. The club hierarchy failed to get either Pedro or Ekitike over the line and indeed no striker signed at all. Until the frantic late action that saw Alexander Isak sold and that triggering the signing of Yoane Wissa who had clearly been targeted as the last gasp fallback position if Isak was sold or remained on strike.
To me, it was clear that in those very final stages it was a case of then Eddie Howe getting offered Nick Woltemade as a very late other striker option and with no other viable alternatives with clubs VERY reluctant to sell their best strikers with little/zero time to get a replacement, the then Newcastle United manager giving it a go with Nick Woltemade. Sadly, the total absence of any pre-season with his new NUFC teammates made it even more difficult for both Eddie Howe and Big Nick to make his move an instant success.
My ideal scenario is that Nick Woltemade stays at Newcastle United and proves a huge long-term success.
A Nick Woltemade sitting on the bench next season though, that would just be no good to anybody.