There was an image from Newcastle United’s Champions League draw against Barcelona that summed up the apparent folly of their summer-long search for a striker.
Needing a goal to capitalise on their dominance in the second half, Nick Woltemade and Yoane Wissa stood next to each other on the touchline, watching the game unfold, still dressed in their tracksuits. Neither would come on as Harvey Barnes’ goal was cancelled out by Lamine Yamal’s late penalty.
Woltemade cost Newcastle £64m, with another £5m in performance-related add-ons. They spent £55m to prise the 29-year-old Wissa from Brentford in the panicked aftermath of Alexander Isak’s £128m departure to Liverpool on deadline day.
At a combined cost of £119m, that is a huge sum of money stuck on the bench for players who would now appear to be third-and-fourth-choice centre-forwards, behind winger Anthony Gordon and a young and extremely raw William Osula.
Wissa has been a huge disappointment. The knee injury picked up on international duty in September, before he had kicked a ball for his new club, ruined his first season at St James’ Park. He looks slow, cumbersome and ill-equipped to play at the level Newcastle aspire to compete at.
The club have been working hard on his fitness, putting him through gruelling sessions behind the scenes, which partly explains his lack of game time in recent weeks.
However, the fact Newcastle will be looking to sign another striker in the summer suggests the DR Congo international has a huge battle ahead to convince manager Eddie Howe he has a future at the club. If they look to sell him at the end of the season they will get nothing near the fee they paid for him. It would be a lot of money to waste for a club constantly wrestling with financial limitations.
Woltemade midfield experiment bears mixed results
Woltemade, though, is a different case. If you talk to coaches and staff at Newcastle, there is still confidence the Germany international has a bright future at the club. They are just trying to unlock his unique skill-set in a Premier League environment.
It is a challenge. Woltemade is not your typical centre-forward. He is not quick, he is not particularly good in the air for a tall man, and he does not appear to have a goalscorer’s natural instincts inside the box.
But he does have qualities that fascinate. Close ball control, wonderful passing range, great technique and – as he showed in his first few months at the club – if he gets chances he will score goals.
The issue is, for weeks now, Woltemade has not been getting chances. He does not get into the box enough and cannot keep up with the speed of Newcastle’s wide players when they get in behind because he drops too deep in the build-up. He has looked like a striker who would never score, one of the worst things you can say about a centre-forward.
Nevertheless, some of Woltemade’s link-up play, even during a barren run of games in front of goal, is sublime.
That is why Howe has experimented with the 24-year-old as an attacking midfielder. The thinking is, if you get him on the ball, he will make things happen. He has a creative eye and the skill to unlock defences with a pass or a flick.
It is an experiment that has produced mixed results. There have been flashes and he scored against Aston Villa in February playing as a hybrid No 8 with the licence to roam.
But against physically strong and quick midfields, such as in the defeats to Everton and Manchester City, Woltemade has looked lost. At times he has been a liability, giving the ball away and unable to cope with the strength and intensity of the opposition. Howe converted one failing striker into a brilliant midfield player during his time at Newcastle, but Woltemade is no Joelinton.
Woltemade is probably best suited to playing as a No 10. The problem is, Howe’s team does not play with one. It may be a fluid interpretation of a 4-3-3, with lots of varying positional play, but that is Newcastle’s system. They very rarely operate in a 4-2-3-1, which would give Woltemade the chance to slot in behind one of the more mobile strikers.
A work in progress
Newcastle have not given up on Woltemade as a central striker. They are well aware of the fact that this is his first season in English football and there was bound to be a rough patch. He is being asked to do things he was not expected to do during his time in the Bundesliga, but there remains an alluring player there.
Woltemade has been asked to speed up his game, move the ball faster. He has been challenged to become more physical. Newcastle believe he is too passive in the opposition’s box and does not anticipate things keenly enough. His failure to attack crosses has been highlighted, especially given his height advantage.
It is a work in progress but Newcastle believe, with more experience of the Premier League and a full pre-season behind him, Woltemade will get better as a centre-forward and will no longer have to be shoehorned into midfield.
It was against Chelsea in December – 20 long appearances ago – that Woltemade last looked like a centre-forward who could thrive in the Premier League. It was the last time he scored a league goal.
He scored two brilliant goals to make it nine in his first 23 games. He was, at that stage, outperforming Manchester United’s Benjamin Sesko, Arsenal’s Victor Gyokeres and Chelsea’s João Pedro. Only Liverpool’s Hugo Ekitike, of all the big summer signings, had scored more goals for their new clubs.
Of the above, the only player Newcastle did not try to sign before Woltemade was Gyokeres. They knew the German was a completely different type of forward to Isak and they knew it would take time for him to adapt. It is proving tricky to get the best out of him, but Newcastle are trying.
We may not get a true reading of his value until next season but just because he is the third-choice centre-forward does not mean he will remain so.