JuicyTalk
Bayern Munich board member Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has labelled Newcastle “an idiot” for shelling out £69million on Nick Woltemade.
Bayern tried to sign the Germany international over the summer but, having seen two bids rejected, opted to walk away. Newcastle then stepped in with a club record bid to prise Woltemade from Stuttgart after missing out on several other targets.
The 23-year-old had only been at Stuttgart for 12 months after joining on a free transfer in the summer of 2024 from Werder Bremen.
He scored 17 goals in 33 games for the Swabian side and then impressed for Germany Under-21s at the European Championship, finishing as the tournament’s leading goalscorer with six goals.
Woltemade scores against Arsenal
The 6ft 6in striker has netted twice in the Premier League so far, including in yesterday’s 2-1 defeat to Arsenal at St James’ Park, as he adapts to life in England.
Rummenigge worried about Bayern’s future against ‘state-owned clubs’
Rummenigge has been outspoken on the financial inequality between the Bundesliga and the Premier League and remains incredulous that Saudi Arabian-owned Newcastle were willing to spend that kind of money on Woltemade.
He told Blickpunkt Sport: “I can only congratulate them in Stuttgart for finding an idiot, in quotation marks, who pays so much money, because we [Bayern] certainly would not have done that.”
On the strength of the English top flight compared to clubs in Germany, Rummenigge, who is also a former chairman of the European Club Association, added: “We need to find a solution. We cannot go higher every year. Salaries and also the transfer amounts have risen rapidly in recent years. You can’t keep working in this way.
“In England, you now have billionaires or there are states that own clubs, such as Saudi Arabia.
“And then you have to play and keep up in the European Cup against them. And you are still asked to win this competition [the Bundesliga] in between.”
