Bayern Munich & German media tirade over Newcastle United £65m Nick Woltemade transfer reaches new levels
The German media scrutiny over Newcastle United’s £65million club-record signing of Nick Woltemade continues.
Newcastle United have been branded ‘idiots’ by one of German football’s most respected names following the £65million transfer of Nick Woltemade.
The 23-year-old German international joined Newcastle for a club-record fee which could increase to £69million with add-ons from Bundesliga side VfB Stuttgart.
The move came after German champions Bayern Munich were heavily linked with a move for the forward throughout the summer window after his impressive breakthrough campaign at Stuttgart.
Woltemade joined Stuttgart last summer on a free transfer and went on to score 17 goals in all competitions last season before winning the golden boot at the Under-21s European Championships over the summer.
In the final days of the summer transfer window, Newcastle swooped to hijack a move for one of Bayern’s top targets with Woltemade joining the club seemingly out of the blue. By the time the story of Newcastle’s interest broke in the media, a deal had already been agreed between the two clubs.
Woltemade has made a positive start to life at Newcastle with two goals in his first three Premier League starts. He has also came off the bench and played a role in the build-up to goals scored by Anthony Gordon against Barcelona in the Champions League and William Osula against Bradford in the Carabao Cup.
The forward will be hoping to make his first Champions League start against Union Saint-Gilloise on Wednesday night (5:45pm kick-off).
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Newcastle United criticised once again for Nick Woltemade transfer
Bayern had been looking to strike a deal with Stuttgart at around £50million for Woltemade over the summer.
Amid the transfer pursuit, German football icon Lothar Matthäus told leading German publication BILD that Bayern’s valuation was too low and €80-100million [£70-85million] was more appropriate for Woltemade, one that Newcastle were willing to meet.
But Bayern’s outspoken supervisory board member Uli Hoeness hit out at the verdict, stating: “Lothar Matthäus is out of his mind! These experts have been a thorn in my side for a long time.
"We're very satisfied at FC Bayern. We are the real winners of the summer transfer window. We have a strong team and didn't need to strengthen it much. Of course, we would have liked to have Florian Wirtz, but we'd never have bought him for €150million [£130million].
"We offered €55million (£47.7million) for Nick Woltemade, while Stuttgart wanted €75million [£65million].
"In the end, he went to Newcastle for €90million [£78million]. What Newcastle are doing has nothing to do with football. It's like Monopoly these days."
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NUFC called ‘idiots’ for paying Nick Woltemade fee
Bayern Munich legend Karl-Heinz Rummenigge added to the German media tirade lambasting Woltemade’s price tag.
The 70-year-old told Blickpunkt Sport: “I'll be honest: When this story with Woltemade and then the demand from Stuttgart came up, I, said as well as Uli Hoeness folks, we're slowly getting to a level that I simply don't find acceptable anymore.
"We shouldn't fulfill every demand to make someone happy, especially the financiers at VfB Stuttgart.
"I can only congratulate those in Stuttgart for finding - I'll use quotation marks here - an idiot who paid that much money. Because we certainly wouldn't have done that in Munich."
Nick Woltemade ‘happy’ amid transfer fee scrutiny
When asked about his transfer fee, Woltemade said in a recent interview: "I didn't make my price, so I can't do anything about it. I just want to play football, and what the clubs pay is not my decision.