Newcastle star 'not worth' record fee as 'anti

Bayern Munich’s honorary president Uli Hoeneß has slammed Newcastle United for paying over the odds for Germany striker Nick Woltemade.

The 23-year-old left Stuttgart for the Magpies last month, reportedly costing an initial £73million in a deal that could rise to £78million (€90million).

The 6ft4 striker is tasked with filling the void left by Alexander Isak and will hope to build on the 17 goals he scored in 2024/25.

It’s not all on Woltemade to carry Eddie Howe’s attack, though, after Yoane Wissa also joined from Brentford for a reported £55million.

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There’s no doubt that Newcastle got desperate towards the end of the transfer window, and the Woltemade transfer emphasises this.

They offered a fee Stuttgart couldn’t refuse, knowing that they had a British-record Isak fee to cover the cost.

The summer business conducted by Premier League clubs has been described as “completely crazy” by Hoeneß, who is not a fan of Newcastle and their Saudi Arabian riches.

“It’s like Monopoly: move forward to Schlossallee, then some sheikh will come along and then you can buy,” he said.

Hoeneß believes Bayern “are the real winners” of the summer window, explaining that they would have liked to have Florian Wirtz and Woltemade, but they were too expensive.

“One farmer comes to another and says: I sold two cows for €50,000 each and bought four chickens for €25,000 each,” the Bayern icon joked when discussing the inflated market.

“Of course, we would have liked to have Florian Wirtz, but we would never have bought him for 150 million.

“We would have liked to have Nick Woltemade. We offered 55 million, Stuttgart wanted 75. Now they’ve apparently sold him to Newcastle for almost 90 million euros.

“But what Newcastle is doing has nothing to do with football. It’s like Monopoly – advance to Schlossallee, then some sheikh will come along, and then you can buy.”

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German legend Lothar Matthaus predicted that Woltemade would leave Stuttgart for the €90million Newcastle paid, but a defiant Hoeneß insists he got “lucky” and that the player is absolutely not worth that amount.

“He [Matthaus] was just lucky. Lothar feels he’s in the right now, but I don’t agree with him.

“He [Woltemade] isn’t worth the 90 million. That only happened because of the money flowing from Saudi Arabia.”

Speaking earlier this week, Hoeneß called for German football to resist the lure of foreign money and wants the Bundesliga to forge its own path.

He said: “I was stunned by what’s been going on in international football over the last six or eight weeks…at some point, people will say: Are they completely crazy?

“This can’t end well. We must show strength and not take the money of the Arabs, the American hedge funds. The DFL must ensure that the Bundesliga clubs never have to accept this money.”

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