Newcastle transfer news: Why Bayern dubbed £69m Nick Woltemade move 'idiotic'

One of the characters of the last window was Nick Woltemade, a 23-year-old German striker. The player launched into the professional ranks at Werder Bremen and represented Stuttgart between January 2024 and August 2025, when he agreed a transfer to Newcastle.

This change is still being talked about in Germany. The issue is that Woltemade was also in Bayern Munich's sights and would have had interest in representing the Bavarian team.

The German giant intensified talks to take the player to the Allianz Arena particularly after Jamal Musiala was seriously injured, but came up against the high values demanded by Stuttgart's board.

Rummenigge criticises Newcastle's spending

A Bayern idol, former player and former CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge is now a member of the council and commented on the negotiation. "I will be honest. When this Woltemade story and Stuttgart's demands emerged, I, just like Uli (Hoeness), Herbert Hainer, Jan Dreesen and Max Eberl, said: 'We are reaching numbers that I do not think acceptable'. We should not accept all demands to make someone happy, especially Stuttgart's financial people," he declared to broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk.

"I can only congratulate the people in Stuttgart for finding, allow me to use quotation marks here, 'an idiot' who paid so much money, because we certainly would not do that in Munich," he added.

Woltemade was valued at the time at €30m (£25.6m), whilst Stuttgart demanded around €75m (£65m) to release him. There were 18 goals and three assists in 36 matches for the team.

Newcastle accepted the terms, and the transaction was not only closed at this value but also had bonuses included that exceeded £4.3m, so that the entire negotiation surpassed the £69.3m mark, according to information from journalist Fabrizio Romano.

German clubs reluctant to match Premier League spending

The majority of Bundesliga clubs culturally do not tend to pay high amounts in signings, as Ze Roberto, an idol in German football, has already commented. The team stipulates a budget and rarely exceeds it.

In Bayern's case, the board remained focussed on saving as much as possible in the last market and only wanted to take advantage of good and low-cost options. Of the new names at the Allianz Arena, Tom Bischof and Jonathan Tah were free agents.

A good part of the available amount was to reinforce the left wing, therefore, the group decided to pay out £64.1m for Luis Diaz. Furthermore, the 28-year-old Colombian has more experience at a high level than young Woltemade, which certainly weighed on the directors' willingness to accept Liverpool's asking price.

Newcastle received many rejections from strikers in the window and were in an impasse regarding Alexander Isak's situation. The only way to resolve the case would be to sign at least one alternative to the Swede, and Woltemade fitted the requirements. Unlike German football, English teams normally are willing to open their coffers more in negotiations.

For now, the high investment is justified on the pitch. The player has scored two goals in three appearances in the Premier League.

This article was originally published on Trivela.