Newcastle United supporters had to endure a summer of change at St. James’ Park, with movement in the dugout and throughout the playing squad.
Eddie Howe decided to move on from his role as the team’s head coach and was replaced by Matthias Jaissle, who then lost several of his key players.
Sandro Tonali joined Tottenham Hotspur for £100m, Anthony Gordon signed for Barcelona for £69m, and Bruno Guimaraes completed a £75m switch to Premier League champions Arsenal.
The Magpies also decided to part ways with centre-forward Nick Woltemade, as he joined Juventus on loan, just 12 months after signing him for £69m from Stuttgart.
Why Nick Woltemade struggled at Newcastle last season
There is no doubting that the Germany international is a talented footballer who is capable of moments of quality at the top end of the pitch, but he ultimately failed at St. James’ Park because of a lack of physicality and intensity.
He excelled in a slower-paced league in the Bundesliga with Stuttgart, scoring 17 goals in the 2024/25 campaign, but the pace and intensity of the Premier League seemed to be too much for him to deal with.
Woltemade scored eight goals and provided three assists in 33 appearances in the top-flight for the Magpies, which is not an exceptional return given the money spent on his services.
|
25/26 Premier League |
Nick Woltemade |
|---|---|
|
Appearances |
33 |
|
xG |
6.59 |
|
Goals |
8 |
|
Big chances created |
5 |
|
Assists |
3 |
|
Duels won per game |
2.8 |
|
Ground duel success rate |
38% |
|
Aerial duel success rate |
38% |
The German number nine struggled badly, though, because of the physicality of the division. He lost 62% of his duels on the ground and in the air, which shows that opposition centre-backs found it far too easy to get the better of him.
With the benefit of hindsight, Newcastle made a mistake with Woltemade because he does not have the physical attributes that suit playing as a lone number nine in English football.
Newcastle already have another Nick Woltemade
The 6 foot 6 centre-forward is not the only player who has struggled at St. James’ Park in recent times, though, as there is a flop in the current squad who is on his way to becoming the next Woltemade.
In the same summer that the German giants joined from Stuttgart, the Magpies swooped to sign Yoane Wissa from Premier League rivals Brentford for a fee of £55m.
It looked like a slam-dunk signing on paper because the DR Congo international scored 19 goals in the Premier League in the 2024/25 campaign for the Bees.
Unfortunately, though, the 30-year-old marksman has been a 2/10 signing so far for Newcastle and it looks like Howe messed up big time with that addition.
Wissa’s most recent performance for the Magpies against Hull City on Saturday summed up his career on Tyneside so far, as he missed a penalty with the chance to make it 3-0 in the first half.
The experienced frontman did not put enough power in his low effort and that allowed Konstantinos Tzolakis to push the ball wide of the post.
|
Wissa (Premier League) |
25/26 |
26/27 |
|---|---|---|
|
Appearances |
19 |
5 |
|
xG |
3.12 |
2.34 |
|
Goals |
1 |
1 |
|
Big chances missed |
6 |
4 |
|
Assists |
1 |
1 |
|
Ground duel success rate |
25% |
50% |
|
Aerial duel success rate |
43% |
40% |
After that miss, Wissa has only scored two goals from 5.46 xG in the Premier League since signing for Newcastle for a fairly significant fee from Brentford, missing ten ‘big chances’ in that time.
He has not been anywhere near as clinical as expected, after scoring 19 goals for Brentford in his last season there, and that is why he has been such a disappointing signing for the club.
Wissa, like Woltemade, has also struggled with the physical side of the game at times when playing as a lone striker, losing the majority of his duels on the ground and in the air in the 2025/26 campaign.
Howe played a more physical game than Brentford, who largely played with balls in behind for Wissa, Kevin Schade, and Bryan Mbeumo, and that exposed Wissa and Woltemade’s lack of intensity and physicality at the top end of the pitch.
Again, with the benefit of hindsight, the English boss messed up big time with both of those players, and it may not be long before they both move on from the Magpies, should Wissa continue to struggle in front of goal this season.
At the moment, it is hard to rate the DR Congo international as anything more than a 2/10 signing, given his dismal goal record and finishing numbers compared to the fee that was paid for him.
