Nick Woltemade: Why Newcastle are shelling out an eye-watering €80m to beat Bayern Munich to Stuttgart's 'two-metre Messi'

Woltemade was born in Bremen on February 14, 2003, a Valentine's Day baby who discovered his love for football at an early age. He had a gift for the game, too, and was still only seven when he was signed by Werder Bremen from local amateur outfit TS Woltmerhausen.

He progressed rapidly through his hometown club's youth sector and first caught the eye of senior team coach Florian Kohfeldt during the 2018-19 campaign by scoring 18 goals and creating a further eight for the Under-17s.

The striker continued to score freely the following season after being promoted to the U19s, and, on February 1, 2020, Woltemade became the youngest debutant in Bremen's history when he came off the bench in a Bundesliga clash with Augsburg at 17 years, 11 months and 18 days old.

At the time, Woltemade looked destined to become a star at the Weserstadion, but it wasn't to be.

After being laid low by illness in January 2021, the teenager was then sidelined by knee ligament damage, while at same time plagued by a persistent foot problem. The net result was Woltemade failing to lock down a regular spot in the Bremen squad, sparking fears that he might never realise his full potential.

Those fears only intensified after he was loaned to third-tier outfit SV Elversberg in the summer of 2022, but the move proved a pivotal moment in the youngster's career. Woltemade found some form and, far more importantly, some fitness at the UrsapharmArena, as he was directly involved in 19 goals (10 of which he scored himself) as Elversberg secured promotion to the 2. Bundesliga as champions.

Woltemade still struggled to replicate those impressive numbers upon his return to Bremen and he parted company with his hometown club when his contract expired at the end of the 2023-24 season. However, the successful stint at Elversberg played a pivotal role in Stuttgart's decision to take a punt on Woltemade - which has paid off spectacularly.

Unsurprisingly, the free transfer from Bremen who wasn't even registered to play in the Champions League began the season on the Stuttgart bench - and that's where he spent all 90 minutes of five of his new team's first nine Bundesliga outings.

However, Woltemade was all the while impressing in the DFB-Pokal, and when he netted twice as a half-time substitute in the Bundesliga win over Union Berlin on December 6, he began to start regularly for Stuttgart.

The centre-forward went on to net 12 times in 28 appearances in Germany's top flight - including in each of the final three games of the season. Even more significantly, Woltemade also finished as top-scorer in the DFB-Pokal, with five goals in five outings, including the opener in the 4-2 victory over Arminia Bielefeld in the final.

Finishing the season with such a flourish also resulted in him being called up to the senior Germany squad for the first time for the Nations League finals, making his debut in the semi-final defeat to Portugal and playing in the third-place playoff against France without getting on the scoresheet.

A matter of days later, though, Woltemade would take the Under-21 European Championship by storm, bagging a hat-trick in the opening victory over Slovenia and netting three more goals en route to the final as he emerged as the tournament's top scorer, although he was unable to help his country avoid a dramatic defeat to England in the showpiece as he finally drew a blank. However, his exploits certainly put him in the shop window.

It was obvious to Stuttgart captain Karazor that the club had pulled off a masterstroke in landing Woltemade on a free, given it was clear to him from the start that his rare mix of height and technique was going to make him a nightmare for opponents. He epitomises the old cliche, 'he's got good feet for a big man'.

"I think I recognise a good footballer quickly and Nick caught my eye from the first week of training," the Turkish midfielder told ran. "The most important thing for us is to involve Woltemade enough in the game but he can do that as a deep-lying striker between the lines or as a true No.9 in the opponent's box. Because we know what we have in Nick: he's a two-metre-tall (Jamal) Musiala or Messi!"

As well as being a formidable attacking threat and a tremendous outlet that relieves pressure on his team by holding the ball up well, Woltemade also works incredibly hard to help his team-mates win it back.

The ability is certainly there, as he so wonderfully underlined with his stunning solo strike against Spain's U21s, with Woltemade dinking the ball over the goalkeeper after the cheekiest of nutmegs on his closest marker.

The common consensus is that Woltemade needs to improve his finishing a tad, in order to boost his numbers. However, now that he's fully fit and firing, it's believed that his strike-rate is only going to improve in the coming years, particularly once he joins an even stronger side, where he should be provided with better chances.

Bizarrely, the frontman is also not the best in the air despite his towering 6'6 frame, faring far better with his feet than he does with his head. That is reflected in him winning less than 45% of his aerial duels in the league in 2024-25 - numbers he will certainly have to improve on against notoriously physical Premier League defenders.

Unsurprisingly, given he backs himself with the ball at his feet, Woltemade is also occasionally guilty of holding onto the ball for too long, which, again, he will need to work on as he is sure to be swiftly shut down in England's top flight.

Having inevitably attracted their attention amid his remarkable rise to prominence at Stuttgart and with his exploits at the U21 Euros, Woltemade seemed destined for Bayern Munich all summer long. But after a drawn-out, fraught and ultimately fruitless transfer pursuit, he's now heading to England.

Chelsea and both Madrid clubs were also reported to be in the mix at the start of the summer, but it emerged that the striker had told Bayern he intended to move to the Allianz Arena just before the end of the U21 European Championship. The Bavarian giants' pull is, of course, unmatched in the Bundesliga, as the best German players are regularly seduced by the idea of playing for their country's biggest club. Die Roten also probably wouldn't mind finding a long-term successor to goal-machine Harry Kane, who recently turned 32.

However, Stuttgart played hardball, repeatedly insisting their main man wouldn't be sold. The Munich club eventually backed off after having €40m (£35m/$47m) and €55m (£48m/$64m) bids rejected and being told to stop contacting the striker - who was then valued at €65m (£56m/$75m) - in July, as their pursuit became a saga. By that point the player had supposedly become unsettled, and there was anger from his camp when a third offer of €60m (£52m/$70m) was turned down in mid-August as Die Schwaben upped their asking price to €75m (£65m/$88m), with Woltemade playing the full 90 minutes against Bayern in the DFB-Supercup defeat just days later.

A standoff ensued, with Stuttgart's CEO stating publicly that 'the file was closed'. But that wasn't the end of the story, as Newcastle capitalised on the tension; the Magpies seemingly acquiesced to the sellers' demands (and then some) by agreeing an astronomical deal worth up to €80m (£69m/$90m), obviously blowing Bayern's proposals out of the water after almost two months of back and forth between the Bundesliga sides. Out of almost nowhere, Woltemade will be a Newcastle player, and he could well be Isak's replacement as Liverpool ready another huge bid.