Nick Woltemade to Bayern Munich: VfB Stuttgart’s unconventional striker has captured the imagination in Germany
The most talked about player in Germany right now is not Bayern Munich’s new signing Luis Diaz nor is it perennial top scorer Harry Kane. Both netted as Bayern won the Franz Beckenbauer Supercup but all eyes were on the striker still wearing a Stuttgart shirt.
Nick Woltemade is a target for Bayern after a fine first season at Stuttgart during which he scored 17 goals before going on to become the top scorer at the European Under-21 Championship in the summer. He made his senior debut for Germany just before that.
Such things do not go unnoticed at Bayern, as their former striker Claudio Pizarro explains. “When a German player is doing well, then Bayern is like, ‘Okay, the spotlight is out.'” Woltemade was in that spotlight before, during and after Saturday’s showpiece opener.
Despite being denied a goal from close range by Manuel Neuer, he impressed. Dayot Upamecano, the physical Bayern centre-back, marked him closely but Woltemade showed that he was up for the fight, holding the ball up well for Stuttgart throughout.
“I have a feeling that Nick is very strong in times like this,” says Atakan Karazor, his Stuttgart captain. But it is difficult to overstate the pressure on Woltemade in Germany right now. Stuttgart are holding firm but his agent keeps talking. And Bayern keep pushing.
Speaking to Jurgen Klinsmann, the former Germany international who made his name at Stuttgart before eventually going on to play for Bayern, there is nothing but empathy. “It is a very logical sequence of thoughts that happens to you,” Klinsmann explains.
“When a big team like Bayern Munich knocks at your door, there is a simple question that you have to ask yourself. Woltemade is probably sitting in his home or talking to his family or whoever he talks to. ‘What if I don’t do that? What happens if I don’t do that?’
“I think the answer is already there. I think in every profession you want to do the best you can do. It is just in your human nature because you want to drive to play for the biggest possible team out there. It is very difficult for Stuttgart to [fight] against that.”
What is all the fuss about? Well, there are not many forwards who stand at 6’6″ tall and have the sort of ability that Woltemade possesses. The good-feet-for-a-big-man cliché might have been invented for him. Cacau, the legendary Stuttgart striker, sums it up.
“He is an amazing player,” Cacau tells Sky Sports. “He can score goals but he can also give assists. And he is a perfect player for Stuttgart, the perfect number nine. He plays very unconventionally because he is tall but he is also technical. Very, very good.”
Rather oddly given his vast frame, Woltemade completed 31 dribbles in the Bundesliga last season. He is much more than a mere target man even if he obviously has the potential to fulfil that function. He can also roam wide, drop deep, bring others into play.
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