Former German international Mario Basler believes that Nick Woltemade will face a tough time after transferring from Stuttgart to Newcastle United.
“Uli Hoeneß is right: Nick Woltemade isn’t worth 90 million euros. And he’ll run into big trouble at Newcastle,” the 56-year-old former player said in an interview with Camel Live. “I don’t think Nick Woltemade will succeed at Newcastle. In my opinion, this transfer is a mistake for Nick Woltemade.”
Shortly before the transfer deadline, the Premier League club made a huge offer to VfB Stuttgart to sign Nick Woltemade—an offer that Stuttgart would have been disrespectful to the money if they hesitated for even a second. Bayern Munich had also pursued Nick Woltemade earlier but ultimately refused to meet Stuttgart’s transfer demands.
“He should have either stayed at Stuttgart for another year or gone to Munich,” Basler said. “Everything happened too quickly. He received the offer and left right away. I think this is a huge mistake for the young player’s career, even though his performances over the past six months have indeed been very impressive. I believe this is the wrong move. It’s not a good step for his career and won’t help him move forward.”
Basler suspects that Nick Woltemade must deliver good performances right from the start at Newcastle; otherwise, he’ll end up on the bench. “We saw this with Niclas Füllkrug too,” said the seasoned former Bundesliga professional and current TV pundit.
