Lahm slams Newcastle ‘mistake’ in 367-word brutal takedown of signing with ‘virtually no track record’
Former Germany and Bayern Munich star Philipp Lahm has slammed Newcastle United for spending huge money on his unproven compatriot Nick Woltemade.
The Magpies’ summer was dominated by the Alexander Isak saga with the Sweden international pushing to complete a move to Premier League rivals Liverpool.
Newcastle ended up missing out on a number of their top targets, especially in forward positions, before spending a club-record fee of £69m to take Woltemade from Stuttgart to St James’ Park.
Isak eventually departed on deadline day with Newcastle also investing another £55m in Yoane Wissa, who is already injured, from Brentford.
Wissa is proven at Premier League level, scoring 19 goals last season for the Bees, but Woltemade has just 29 goals in 119 appearances during his professional career.
And legendary right-back Lahm has praised Liverpool’s acquisition of Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen but reckons fellow Germany international Woltemade could flop at Newcastle.
Lahm said in The Guardian: “The case of Nick Woltemade is different. He is 23, a good year older than [Florian] Wirtz, but became a regular player in a first division team only after scoring two goals against Heidenheim nine months ago. At the age when Wirtz won the double with Leverkusen, Woltemade was playing on loan in the German third tier for a season.
“It is unclear how well he will perform in the Champions League. He has not played in the competition because Stuttgart did not include him in their squad for it last season. He has not yet scored against big teams, his most important goal coming in the cup final against the third-tier side Arminia Bielefeld.
“He is a player with virtually no track record. At the European Under-21 Championship this summer, he was the top scorer – one of the oldest players in one of the oldest teams. The best footballers, such as Lamine Yamal, Bellingham, Jamal Musiala and Wirtz, do not take part in such tournaments having long since outgrown the level.
“Woltemade is unpredictable, his dribbling, passing and shooting are not found in the textbooks; they are unique, with no international comparison. Unlike other top players, his centre of gravity is rarely at the centre of the movement. He thrives on his free spirit and self-confidence and seems to want to reinvent the game at No 9.
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“But he has not yet developed any consistency or patterns – not in his first touch, not in his combination play, not in his timing on headers, not in his shooting. His goals are not the logical consequence of excellent actions and skills. His excellence is not repeatable. And he still has to prove that he can last 50 games in a season, because he is tall but not robust.
“The €85m (£73.5m) that Newcastle are paying for Woltemade is therefore a gamble. For the player, the new contract is a once-in-a-lifetime project. He wanted to go to Bayern Munich, and when someone else paid the asking price, he went there. The owners from Saudi Arabia and the club’s management are new to the business. In a gold rush atmosphere, mistakes are made and miracles are believed in.”
