Idiotic or a fair price? Newcastle’s Woltemade and the £69m fee

Newcastle didn’t have until the deadline day to sign a striker after a frustrating summer.

The football world was aware of their plans to replace Liverpool-bound Alexander Isak and was set to receive a sizable sum of money, as it turned out.

Clubs would naturally request a premium from the Magpies.

Yoane Wissa from Brentford for £55 million? No issue.

Nick Woltemade, a German international, for £69 million? OK.

Woltemade, 23, looks a great signing after scoring twice in three Premier League games and once in the Champions League.

So Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, a board member of Bayern Munich and a legendary former player, said Newcastle were “idiots” for paying £69 million for the German striker.

Rummenigge, a former German star forward and supervisory board member at Bayern, felt that Stuttgart’s demands were too high for a player who had just joined SV Elversberg two years ago.

Woltemade, 23, joined Newcastle after scoring 12 goals in 28 Bundesliga games for Stuttgart last season.

In the Under-21 European Championship, where Germany lost to England in the final, he also scored six goals.

Rummenigge said in an interview with Blickpunkt Sport, “I can only congratulate those in Stuttgart for discovering an idiot who paid that much money. Because “that’s not what we would have done in Munich,”

Eddie Howe, manager of Newcastle, defended the club’s expenditure.

The head coach of Newcastle said, “It’s completely irrelevant.” Transfer fees are determined by market forces, not necessarily by any particular club.

“We’re very pleased to have Nick here. Because he was thrust straight into action without any notable training time with us, I believe he has made a strong start to what has been a challenging time for him.

It is difficult to determine a player’s true worth.

The bottom line is what someone is willing to pay, like anything else.

Woltemade is worth £69 million, which is what Newcastle paid for him.

The comprehensive database of Transfermarkt, which provides transfer data for BBC Sport, is one of the few reference points publicly available for valuations.

There is a catch in this situation right now. Woltemade’s most recent valuation was at the beginning of June, at €30 million (£26.1%).

What followed? A few months ago, he had a breakout.

His most recent Transfermarkt valuation came one day after earning his first senior role with Germany.

He then led Germany’s Under-21 World Cup lineup, earning the Golden Boot and the tournament team name.

Would those exploits add $43 million to his value, without a doubt, but that would undoubtedly do the same?

Omari Hutchinson and James McAtee were the only players who were selected for England’s win over Germany at the Euros, along with Jarell Quansah, who was signed for £35 million from Liverpool.

Woltemade made his seventh-tightest summer arrival in the Premier League.

Woltemade’s valuation on Transfermarkt was the lowest among the 26 most expensive new signings made by top-flight clubs.

At €50 million (£43.5 million), the same website values striker Nicolas Jackson, who was signed by Bayern from Chelsea on loan. Jackson was given a conditional purchase agreement by Bakeren for a £14.3 million loan.

Harry Kane (£86. 4 million) and Lucas Hernandez (£68 million) are the only players Bayern have signed for more money than Newcastle did for Woltemade.

In the last 18 months, Bayern have turned to England for a number of their forwards. Deals for Kane, Michael Olise (£50m) and Luis Diaz (£65.5m) cost a combined £201.9m.

A record-breaking summer saw the release of a sizable £3 billion in transfer spending by Premier League clubs, more than the sums spent by all teams in the Bundesliga, La Liga, Ligue 1, and Serie A.

Premier League clubs spent an unprecedented £3 billion following the conclusion of a record £6.7 billion four-year domestic TV deal and the additional revenue generated by newly expanded European club competitions.

Liverpool, the reigning champion of the Premier League, paid a staggering $415 million, while Barcelona, the reigning champion, paid just under $24 million.

Napoli, the reigning champion of Italy, spent just under £80 million on new players, compared to Bayern, who won in the Bundesliga.

With the exception of Real Madrid, promoted Sunderland had a net spend of 118 million more than any other club in continental Europe.

With just over £1 billion spent on top-tier league teams, Serie A and the Bundesliga were the second-highest spenders in Europe.

Although signing Woltemade for a player who had only played 69 top-flight games before this year is a lot of money, there is a certain amount of long-term planning in the deal.

The player’s final years should be ahead of him, at age 23. Isak, the man he has replaced this summer, serves as a good example of what Newcastle hopes to get from the German.

Newcastle signed the Sweden international for around £60 million in 2022 after recording a record of 44 goals in 132 Real Sociedad appearances. At the time, Newcastle was 22.

Isak’s goals with Newcastle put an end to the club’s 70-year quest for a significant trophy and placed the Magpies in the Champions League twice in three years.

After all of that, Isak was purchased for £125 million, more than the club’s offer of him three years prior.

Newcastle will hope to see Woltemade replicate Isak’s success both on the pitch and in the boardroom.

Former Crystal Palace striker Clinton Morrison, who said, “Woltemade at Newcastle, they could end up making money on him.”

He is only a young child, and I believe he could be successful in a few years where he can earn a good living.

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