Newcastle United‘s Nick Woltemade has stuttered during his first few weeks at Juventus, although it’s far from being all his own fault. A negative perception is now building around him, similar to when Douglas Luiz first signed for the club.
The Bianconeri initially wanted to sign Joshua Zirkzee late in the summer transfer window. When hopes of a deal with Manchester United failed, they saw the opportunity to sign Woltemade on a dry loan.
Newcastle United landed Matias Fernandez-Pardo, allowing them to let Woltemade depart on terms that were favourable for the Old Lady.
The move was seen as a positive turning point for the German but it has proved to be anything but that so far.
Magpies return approaching
Today’s TuttoSport presents a negative stance about the striker, who is yet to start in Serie A this season. He is set to start against Celta Vigo in the Europa League and this is seen as a big chance to prove himself.
The Turin newspaper states Woltemade will return to Newcastle United ‘Amazon style’. This is because Juve have already given up on him and want to build in a different way. They have plans of signing a new striker in January, giving rise to the possibility of the German returning to England in the middle of the season.
The club feel he is a misfit for Luciano Spalletti’s system and demands. They have been using him as a player who is a physical presence in the final third and is an outlet for goals. But that hasn’t worked out and it hasn’t helped Randal Kolo Muani either.
The newspaper make a close comparison to the tragic Greek tale of Icarus too, while pointing out that Woltemade doesn’t need to fly too close to the sun (Turin) anymore. They don’t expect him to make too much of an impact, as hopes are lower than ever.
However, Woltemade played for Newcastle United this season before moving to Juventus. That means that regardless of what Juventus want, he can’t sign for a third club.
The only option would be him returning to the Magpies and becoming part of their squad. That may be preferable for all involved if the situation doesn’t improve.
Our take: Juve’s failed strategy
Increasingly, it is becoming evident Juventus had no plans for the 25-year-old and didn’t assess how his style could help them. It was a signing made for the sake of it, as they don’t seem to know where his strengths lie.
He is much better when dropping deeper and linking up play. Instead, Spalletti has used him as a typical target man, completely removing him from build-up. That takes away a lot from the Newcastle United man, who won’t thrive in a setup like that.
