Nick Woltemade nonsense - German media get excited over Newcastle United star for no reason
News on the continent appears to travel slowly as German media have made outlandish claims about Nick Woltemade.
German media appear to have only just clicked that Nick Woltemade changed his Instagram bio.
At the weekend, Newcastle United social media circles went into a frenzy once word spread that the striker removed the club from his online bio. It was later established that Woltemade also tweaked his profile to delete Adidas and the German national team.
Coupled with the 24-year-old’s current fortunes on Tyneside, many put the two together to claim animosity in the Toon camp. This is not the case - with Woltemade making the change two weeks earlier.
German media make bold Nick Woltemade claims
The gossip appears to have experienced a delayed reaction on the continent. Bavarian Football Works - a Bayern Munich outlet - ran with the headline “Trouble In Paradise?”
Newcastle famously gazumped the Bundesliga giants to sign Woltemade, provoking bitter outbursts from high-profile Bayern officials. Again, it should be noted that the forward changing his bio was a non-story.
CF Bayern Insider also claim an unnamed reporter - who is close to Eddie Howe - has been critical of Woltemade. The suggestion is that the £69million believes these comments to have indirectly come from his manager and he could leave this summer.
Behind the scenes, NewcastleWorld understands Howe has full faith in Woltemade. He started the season well and there is an acknowledgement that he was always going to have a transitional debut season.
The challenge for the Magpies is to nail down his best position. Many Newcastle fans believe Woltemade has been treated unfairly, with Howe playing him as a No.9, No.10 and in midfield.
Selling Woltemade would also not make sense from a PSR perspective. He signed on a six-year contract for £69million less than 12 months ago so, carries significant book value on the balance sheet.
‘He’s training well’ - Eddie Howe
Earlier today, Howe hailed Woltemade’s efforts in training and teased a potential strike partnership with Yoane Wissa. He told reporters: "He's training well. I think again he's benefiting from the bigger sessions with 20 players that we've missed throughout the season and now we're beginning to work with him on the things we feel like we needed to earlier in the season but didn't have the opportunity to.
I thought his pass for Yoane (Wissa) was sublime against Arsenal. It was great to see those two link together and it looked like it could be a potential partnership for us."