Nick Woltemade's move to Juventus is complete. The Old Lady have taken the Germany international on loan from Newcastle United for one season, with no option to buy agreed. According to reports, the loan fee is between four and five million euros.
Just one year after his €75 million move from VfB Stuttgart to the Premier League, Woltemade is turning his back on the Magpies again after slipping into a slump at Newcastle. He had started brilliantly, scoring four goals in his first five league games.
Part of that was down to then Newcastle manager Eddie Howe deploying Woltemade in a much deeper role at times, effectively as a No. 8. That was the point Woltemade always made when the media asked about his goal drought.
"A goal or an assist is expected of me in every game. But if I'm not playing in attack, it is obviously much harder for me to get into the dangerous goalscoring areas," Woltemade told stern in June, before then also taking aim at his critics in England, who in his opinion had not understood that Howe was by then using him in a different position: "Even so, some pundits still judged me as a striker. Then it was: Why is Nick scoring so few goals? Why isn't he providing more assists? Those were the wrong questions, and I didn't think they were entirely fair."
Leipzig and BVB were also said to have been interested in Woltemade
The 24-year-old then lost his regular place both at Newcastle and in the Germany team. At the World Cup, he came on only briefly in the round of 32 against Paraguay shortly before the start of extra time, and Woltemade also missed in the subsequent penalty shootout, just like Kai Havertz before him and Jonathan Tah after him. Germany therefore suffered their next major World Cup debacle and were eliminated.
More recently, rumours of a return to the Bundesliga also surfaced, with both RB Leipzig and Borussia Dortmund linked with Woltemade. He is still under contract at Newcastle until 2031.
Newcastle, meanwhile, are replacing Woltemade with Matias Fernandez-Pardo. The 21-year-old Belgium international with Spanish roots is joining the side of new Newcastle manager Matthias Jaissle from OSC Lille for a reported fee of around €60 million, although Jaissle had actually seen Woltemade as an important building block for his team, according to a report by Sport Bild.