Woltemade fee ‘irrelevant’ after ‘idiots’ claim – Howe

Eddie Howe argues that it is irrelevant Karl-Heinz Rummenigge’s claim that Newcastle United were “idiots” for paying £69 million for Nick Woltemade.

In an interview with Blickpunkt Sport, the Bayern Munich supervisory board member praised Stuttgart for “finding an idiot who will pay that much money” and said, “we would have certainly not done that.”

Before Newcastle broke the club’s transfer record to sign him last month, the Bundesliga champions had previously unsuccessfully made numerous offers to sign the German striker.

Howe defended the club’s investment, avoiding the risk of a verbal altercation with Rummenigge.

The head coach of Newcastle responded, “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.

He performed extremely well. The transfer fee is completely irrelevant, and we’re really happy to have him with us.

Since the deal was completed, Newcastle have repeatedly been criticized for their Bayern links.

The black-and-whites were a “good club but not the top tier,” according to honorary president Uli Hoeness, who suggested Newcastle’s strategy was “nothing with football” and was instead “like Monopoly these days.”

The club’s board member for sport, Max Eberl, questioned whether this was a “strategically intended transfer” or a “desperational deed.

Woltemade, 23, has two goals in his first three Premier League games and hasn’t appeared to have been affected by the comments or his price.

Howe remarked, “He’s not that kind of character.” He doesn’t necessarily overthink things, which is a huge plus. He deserves no more than what we have paid for him. On his performance in the team and his contributions to the club going forward will be evaluated.

Any football player should try to dust that off, but that would be easier said than done. He is very relaxed despite the fact that I’ve witnessed players who have been negatively impacted by the expectation or the fee. He appears to be enjoying his football and being here, which is ultimately what matters.

Woltemade opened the scoring against Arsenal at the weekend, but Gabriel and Merino’s team came from behind to win 2-1.

When they take on Union Saint-Gilloise in the Champions League on Wednesday, Howe has instructed his side to “regulate and come back stronger” from the humiliation.

Before the game in Brussels, he said, “I don’t necessarily feel that in a sense of a hangover.” It ought to be a motivating factor for me.