Bayern Munich president reacts to Woltemade’s move to Newcastle ‘like Monopoly’…

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Newcastle United secured the £65 million signing of Nick Woltemade from VfB Stuttgart after the player had once looked destined for Bayern Munich.

The Magpies announced the signing of Woltemade in the final week of the transfer window after spending the majority of the summer searching for a top-quality centre forward.

Benjamin Sesko and Liam Delap are two of several names who reportedly turned down a move to St James’ Park, but Eddie Howe eventually landed the two strikers he was looking for.

Yoane Wissa completed his move to Newcastle on deadline day after a drawn-out transfer saga with Brentford, which saw multiple bids rejected for the Congolese international despite him declaring his intentions to depart the Gtech Community Stadium.

Now, Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeneß has spoken out about the Bundesliga champions’ pursuit of Woltemade and appears to have taken a back-handed swipe at Newcastle.

Uli Hoeneß responds to Nick Woltemade joining Newcastle

In an interview with German news outlet Sport 1 Dopa, Hoeneß stated that he believes Woltemade’s decision to join Newcastle is not a footballing decision, but rather one based on the substantial fee paid for his services.

“We’re very satisfied at FC Bayern. We are the real winners of the summer transfer window. We have a strong team and didn’t need to strengthen it much,” as translated by iMiaSanMia.

“Of course, we would have liked to have Florian Wirtz, but we’d never have bought him for €150m. We offered €55 million for Nick Woltemade, while Stuttgart wanted €75 million.

“In the end, he went to Nottingham (he meant Newcastle) for €90m. What Newcastle are doing has nothing to do with football. It’s like Monopoly these days.”

Hoeneß revealed Bayern will not sign Nicolas Jackson permanently in the same interview, as he delivered a brash and outspoken response to his side’s summer transfer business.

Woltemade is already turning heads in Newcastle and is expected to make an immediate impact in the Premier League after impressing in Stuttgart last season with a return of 17 goals and three assists in 33 appearances across all competitions.

Indeed, the Magpies paid a combined £120m for Woltemade and Wissa, which in turn allowed Alexander Isak to join Liverpool in a British transfer record deal after months of constant speculation and the Swede dominating headlines at St James’ Park.

Newcastle will be unfazed by Uli Hoeneß’s comments

As mentioned, the sale of Isak to Liverpool facilitated the moves for Woltemade and Wissa to arrive in the North East.

Furthermore, Newcastle completed all three deals with £5m in profit and are now arguably in a much stronger position to approach the rest of the campaign with two top-level strikers arriving to replace Isak and Callum Wilson.

The Magpies’ business will always attract scrutiny due to the club’s Saudi Arabian ownership, which is natural, but to suggest that Newcastle threw enough money at Woltemade to secure his signature over Bayern is a lazy narrative.

Bayern had plenty of time and opportunity to strike a deal with Stuttgart, but failed to do so, leaving the path clear for Newcastle to secure a deal. The fact that this scenario was allowed to play out is largely due to Hoeneß’s inaction.