Bayern Munich legend Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has branded Newcastle United’s lavish summer acquisition of striker Nick Woltemade an act of idiocy.
The 23-year-old Germany international became Newcastle’s record signing when he moved from Stuttgart to St James’ Park last month in a deal worth up to £69m.
Woltemade was previously a target for Munich, who needed attacking cover after winger Jamal Musiala underwent surgery on a fractured fibula and veteran forward Thomas Müller left the club following the expiry of his contract.
The 6ft 6in Woltemade scored 17 goals for Stuttgart last season and went on to become top scorer in the European Under-21 Championship in Slovakia, where he found the net half a dozen times as Germany reached the final.
Rummenigge brands Woltemade price tag ‘financial madness’
Uncertain where he would fit into an attack spearheaded by Harry Kane, however, the forward resisted Bayern’s overtures in favour of a move Rummenigge has dubbed “financial madness”.
“When this story with Woltemade and then the demands of Stuttgart came up, I, as well as [fellow Bayern Munich supervisory and executive board members] Uli Hoeneß, Herbert Hainer, Jan Dreesen, and Max Eberl, said: ‘Guys, we’re reaching figures that I no longer find acceptable. We shouldn’t meet every demand to make someone happy, especially the financiers at Stuttgart.’
“I can only congratulate the people in Stuttgart for finding – let me use quotation marks here – ‘an idiot’ who paid that much money, because we certainly wouldn’t have done that in Munich.”
Woltemade, who scored the winning goal against Wolverhampton Wanderers on his debut earlier this month and also gave Newcastle the lead in Sunday’s 2-1 home defeat to Arsenal, has made an encouraging start to life in the Premier League.
Woltemade: ‘I didn’t make my price, I just want to play football’
Yet nothing he has done so far is enough to convince Rummenigge that Bayern, whom he scored 162 in 310 appearances between 1974 and 1984, should have broken the bank for the striker.
“We could have signed Woltemade,” said the German. “But I also have to say Bayern Munich are wise enough not to engage in every kind of financial madness. I’ve always said: ‘We want to achieve sporting success, but please, in a serious and financially sound way.’”
For his part, Woltemade has made it clear he sees his price tag as a vote of confidence from his new club rather than a burden.
“I didn’t make my price, so I can’t do anything about it,” said the striker. “I just want to play football, and what the clubs pay is not my decision.
“But I am really happy that the club trusted me so much that they paid so much money.”
