Nick Woltemade has made an instant impact at Newcastle United, joining an elite club alongside Alan Shearer and Les Ferdinand as the only players to score in their first three Premier League starts at St James’ Park. The German forward converted a composed penalty in Sunday’s win over Nottingham Forest, continuing his red-hot start to life on Tyneside.
Arriving from VfB Stuttgart for a club-record fee, Nick Woltemade was under immense pressure to deliver immediately — especially after strike partner Yoane Wissa suffered an injury on international duty. That pressure only intensified when Bayern Munich legend Karl-Heinz Rummenigge publicly criticised Newcastle’s spending, calling the Magpies “idiots” for paying such a high fee.
“I’ll be honest,” Rummenigge told Blickpunkt Sport. “When this story with Woltemade and the demand from Stuttgart came up, I said, along with Uli Hoeness, that we’re getting to a level that’s simply unacceptable. I can only congratulate Stuttgart for finding — and I’ll use quotation marks here — an idiot who paid that much money. Because we certainly wouldn’t have done that in Munich.”
But if Rummenigge expected Woltemade to wilt under pressure, he was wrong. The 22-year-old has started his Newcastle career superbly, showing composure and confidence beyond his years. His penalty on Sunday — confidently struck into the top corner — was the latest sign of a player thriving in his new surroundings.
Speaking ahead of the Forest game, former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher came to Woltemade’s defence, blasting Rummenigge’s remarks as “disrespectful.”
“I really like Nick Woltemade,” Carragher said on Sky Sports. “When I saw that quote, it angered me — and I’m not even a Newcastle supporter. For someone from such a respected club like Bayern Munich to speak so disrespectfully about another German player, that’s a joke. I hope that lad shoves those words right back down his throat — and it looks like he’s doing just that.”
Anthony Gordon, who starred alongside Woltemade in Newcastle’s 4-0 Champions League win over Union Saint-Gilloise, also backed his new teammate.
“I don’t know why you’d comment on a player who’s not at your club,” Gordon said. “It’s a bit stupid, especially when he’s started really well — three goals in four games speaks for itself.”
Nick Woltemade, it seems, is letting his football do all the talking — and right now, it’s speaking volumes.
