Newcastle panel hit back at ‘worst football take of all time’

‘He’s had an absolute stinker’.

No, not under-fire Newcastle United forward Nick Woltemade but rather talkSPORT’s Adrian Durham who recently delivered some stinging criticism of the Germany international.

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The £69million summer signing from VfB Stuttgart has netted ten goals in 42 appearances for the Magpies but has just one goal to his name in 2026.

While the goals appear to have dried up for the German, his place in Eddie Howe’s starting line has also caused much confusion.

Howe is still figuring out where to best utilise the star, if at all, with Woltemade banished to the bench on occasions.

And that led to Durham’s brutal assessment of the towering forward.

Bottom of the pile

“Nick Woltemade, I am going to say this – is the worst signing in Premier League history,” Durham told talkSPORT’s Fiery Fridays podcast.

“This isn’t anything against him, it isn’t personal – I hear he’s a very good teammate.

“But £65-70million for one of those, and we’ve got to delve deeper.

“Let’s get this right. He is a footballer, he’s got talent. But he has not got a place in the Newcastle United team, and I think that is the fundamental flaw here.

“£70m and he hasn’t even got a place in the team? That’s your big signing. That’s a joke signing. So pound-for-pound, for what a team needed and what he brings, I make Woltemade the worst-ever Premier League signing.”

His damning judgement was quickly diluted by this week’s panel of talkSPORT’s dedicated Newcastle United show Inside The Toon, who hit back of Durham with some criticism of their own.

A terrible take

“He hasn’t even been Newcastle’s worst signing this season, it makes no sense to me,” said Newcastle fan Clinton Forde.

“Does he actually watch football? That is probably the worst football hot take of all time. How about that Adrian?

“If you’ve watched Newcastle United you could have gone for [Yoane] Wissa… cool, have that one.

“[Anthony] Elanga… have that one. [Jacob] Ramsey…have that one.

“But Woltemade who’s scored ten goals? Did you not see the little flick he did against Brighton? Did you not see the penalty he had against Nottingham Forest?

“He’s got four assists. His goals (total) is similar to [Benjamin] Sesko, Joao Pedro and [Hugo] Ekitike.

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“So how can he say he’s the worst of all time? Absolute stinker.”

Meanwhile, panelist Adam Clery took a more measured view of the German’s start to life on Tyneside, claiming he was never deemed a like-for-like replacement for Alexander Isak.

“I think it’s absolutely fair to say Newcastle have struggled to integrate Nick Woltemade into the side,” Clery said.

“He was not going to be an Alexander Isak direct replacement because he does not press the same way, he’s not a natural finisher and he’s not there to get two or three touches a game and go home with the match ball.

“He allows you to control games better which is what this Newcastle side desperately want to do and it’s not massively worked.

“There’s been very few games this season where you’ve gone, ‘that game plan’s world perfectly and Nick Woltemade’s been at the very centre of that.

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“A lot of his individual performances have been really good. People are saying he had a purple patch with goals at the start of the season.

“Great, a purple patch for goals is not a criticism, that’s a good run of form he was on.

“The goals have dried up since but he’s played deeper, the link-up play has been better.

“He’s not the worst of anything. How many Premier League games has he played? 27? So he’s missed four or five games.

“Given the age he is, the talent he’s got and the contributions made in that time, I’d say he’s been pretty alright so far.”

Unfairly targeted?

The panellists were then asked whether the criticism was unwarranted and whether Woltemade was an easy target for scapegoating.

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“Yes he has been scapegoated,” Forde said. “The numbers speak for themselves and they are similar to rivals at different clubs.

“Why are you digging out Woltemade who’s fresh into the league, hit the ground running and scored goals for fun?”

Clery added: “The reason why his contribution gets unfairly magnified compared to the rest of the team is because when games are tight, can your centre forward get you a goal you had no right to get.

“We did have that last season and we don’t now so I can see why it falls on him.”