'Leave the boy alone!' - Nick Woltemade 'laughed less and was withdrawn' amid Bayern Munich transfer drama as Stuttgart star reveals toll of daily speculation

Undav has broken his silence on the emotional toll of relentless transfer speculation linking his Stuttgart team-mate with Bayern, revealing that the uncertainty left Woltemade "laughing less" and feeling increasingly withdrawn. All summer, Woltemade was heavily tipped to join the Bavarian giants, but Stuttgart have rebuffed all advances.

It has been a draining transfer saga involving Woltemade, Bayern and Stuttgart. The Bundesliga champions were intent on bolstering their attack and identified Woltemade as their top target after he scored 17 goals in 33 games in all competitions last season. In fact, at the end of June, reports stated that Bayern had struck a personal agreement with the 23-year-old. It has also been revealed by the German media that Bayern head coach Vincent Kompany had a "secret" video call with Woltemade, which convinced the player of the project at Allianz Arena.

Even so, Die Roten's first two bids for the player were rejected without much consideration, the second one worth €50 million (£43m/$58m) plus €5m in bonuses, including a 10 per cent sell-on clause. However, Stuttgart remained adamant on not entertaining any offers below €65m (£56m/$75m). Despite Max Eberl, Bayern's director of sport, claiming that the deal for Woltemade was now "off the table", they sent an improved third proposal worth €60m (£52m/$70m) earlier this month. Once again, Die Schwabians stood firm on not entering negotiations and, in fact, ended up increasing their demands, asking for €75m (£65m/$87m).

Speaking to Sport Bild, Undav said: "Everyone under the sun has spoken out about Nick; podcasts have been made by people you've never seen before. Experts have spoken out, every day. Just leave the boy alone; at some point, enough will be enough. If the issue hadn't been made so big, it wouldn't have been so bad for Nick. It was on Nick's mind, so I don't need to talk nonsense.

"He didn't act angry or train less well. Sure, he laughed less, was a bit more withdrawn. Now the whole thing is over, everything's been resolved. And after this decision, he seems more relaxed to me – outwardly – again. In the locker room, he was always the same.

"[Bayern Munich] is the biggest club in Germany, one of the biggest clubs in the world. Nick wanted to take his next step; he's still young. Of course, that's understandable."

Stuttgart CEO Alexander Wehrle has already publicly confirmed that the transfer saga is now closed, with Woltemade set to remain an integral part of the club's plans for the 2025-26 season. "The file is closed and it will stay closed. Nothing can happen now," Wehrle stated on German TV show Bild Sport on Welt. "It's not about winning or losing. For us, it's about our sporting goals. We want to have a successful season with Nick Woltemade. We've said that several times now, and I don't know if people don't believe us when we say it, because people keep asking about it."