Newcastle branded ‘idiots’ over ‘unacceptable’ transfer business – Eddie Howe disagrees

Bayern Munich legend Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has labelled Newcastle United ‘idiots’ for completing a high-profile piece of summer business that the German giants would never even have touched – at that price.

It was a tough summer for the Magpies as they battled to keep Alexander Isak from out of Liverpool’s clutches, only to eventually buckle as they received a British record transfer fee for the Swedish hotshot.

However, Isak’s expected exit left them woefully short of central striking options, after Callum Wilson also left on a free transfer, and the club rectified that issue by spending £65million on Nick Woltemade and a further £55m on Yoane Wissa.

Woltemade, 23, had been attracting attention from a host of Europe’s top clubs after racking up 17 goals across an impressive debut season for Stuttgart last term.

He also starred at the European Under-21 Championship, finishing as top goalscorer in a competition won by England. That led to interest from Newcastle, along with Atletico Madrid and Bayern.

And, as the summer transfer deadline drew closer, Stuttgart became increasingly resigned to losing Woltemade, with Bayern actually holding advanced discussions with their Bundesliga rivals before launching two separate bids for the forward.

And while Bayern were in desperate need of attacking reinforcements, they ultimately decided to end their pursuit after a second offer of €55m (£48m) was turned down.

This prompted Newcastle to try their luck as they secured a club-record deal for the Germany international, who has scored two goals in his first three Premier League outings.

But despite his strong start for Newcastle, Woltemade is yet to convince Rummenigge that he has the quality or potential to justify such a large price tag, with the German not particularly complimentary over their business for the player.

The former Bayern forward-turned-CEO told Bayernisch Rundfunk: “I’ll be honest: When this story with Woltemade and then the demands of Stuttgart came up, I, as well as Uli Hoeness, Herbert Hainer, Jan Dreesen, and Max Eberl, said: ‘Guys, we’re reaching figures that I no longer find acceptable!’

“We shouldn’t meet every demand to make someone happy, especially the financiers at Stuttgart.

“I can only congratulate the people at Stuttgart for finding – let me use quotation marks here – ‘an idiot’ who paid that much money, because we certainly wouldn’t have done that at Munich.”

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Woltemade making a big impression at Newcastle

Despite Rummenigge’s comments, Woltemade has already made a big impression on the St James’ Park faithful and was roundly applauded as he was replaced by William Osula before Arsenal’s late comeback on Sunday.

And, facing the media at his post-match press conference, Newcastle boss Eddie Howe also singled out the improving Woltemade for special praise.

“It was a great finish from Nick. It was a big moment in the game, and we were hopeful of kicking on from there and get our A-game going.” Howe told reporters.

“That didn’t really happen. He was starved of service a bit, and we didn’t put many crosses in the box for him.

“But the couple that we did, he was on the end of. There were really good signs for him.”

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