Half of Newcastle United's German contingent called up for international duty for this month's World Cup qualifiers
Newcastle United now have two German stars in their squad after Malick Thiaw and Nick Woltemade joined the club in the summer.
The Magpies chased Thiaw for over a year before finally getting their man this summer, while Woltemade, who has had a rapid rise to prominence over the last 12 months, was more of a left-field signing coming late in the window without much fanfare beforehand.
Newcastle loves those types of transfer deals where there's very little coverage before the deal is actually done, and the Nick Woltemade move went from zero to complete in what felt like a matter of hours.
Woltemade has made a superb start to life at Newcastle, having scored three goals in four games already.
Nick Woltemade has been given the nod for Germany again
Meanwhile, Malick Thiaw had to be patient before being handed his place in the lineup, but a concussion to Fabian Schar gave the German an opportunity to have a run in the side and and he's immediately shown why Eddie Howe pursued him for so long.
However, as Julian Nagelsmann has named his latest Germany squad for the upcoming World Cup Qualifiers, only one of the two has made it into the squad.
Malick Thiaw will have to wait to add to his three international caps as he wasn't selected, but Woltemade, who led the line in Germany's last two games, has received another call-up.
Newcastle's squad is brimming with international-quality players
Woltemade came in for a fair bit of criticism last month for his contribution to the national side, but his form at Newcastle has kept him in Nagelsmann's thoughts.
We're sure that if Thiaw keeps playing the way he has been, he'll make it very hard for the Germany coach to ignore him, too.
The number and quality of internationals Newcastle has in its squad now is a huge sign of how far the club has come in the last few years.
