Newcastle United have eyes on 6'5" German forward who starred at U21 Euros but move could be very difficult
As Newcastle United and Manchester United continue to posture over the signing of Benjamin Sesko, the two are also eyeing another forward and could clash again.
Newcastle and Man United both want Benjamin Sesko; he wants a move to the Premier League, but while Newcastle are ready to pay whatever RB Leipzig and Sesko want, there's a feeling that the Slovenian is waiting for Man United to show their hand before making a decision on his future.
As both clubs are shopping for strikers in the same pond, both are also keen on Ollie Watkins, with the suggestion being that if Sesko goes to one club, Watkins could go to the other.
However, Sesko and Watkins aren't the only forwards the two clubs are ready to do battle over, with VfB Stuttgart's Nick Woltemade being eyed by both clubs.
Nick Woltemade doesn't want to leave Germany but Newcastle may still try to persuade him
The 23-year-old powerhouse forward represented Germany in the U21s European Championships this summer, finishing as the tournament's top scorer with six goals.
As a result, top clubs stood up and took note, and a move to Bayern Munich looked to have been agreed early in the window, but that has yet to come to fruition, leaving the door open for Premier League clubs to make a move.
However, reports from German journalist Christian Falk told CF Bayern Insider suggest that Woltemade's heart is set on a move to Bayern and, at the very least, remaining in the Bundesliga.
He doesn’t want to leave the Bundesliga at this stage. On Wednesday, there was a meeting between the Bayern bosses where they discussed how they’ll move in the window for Woltemade.
“There have already been two offers rejected – one of €40m [£34.5m] plus €5m and the second of €50m [£43.2m] plus €5m.
“Now they’ve decided to play on time, as they don’t want to raise their offer again. They hope Stuttgart will come back to the table, as it’s a lot of money for the club as it stands, and they can’t guarantee that another club will be prepared to pay this fee next year. So, it’s a tactic by Bayern to put pressure on Stuttgart.”
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Should Newcastle take a step back and rebuild?
Woltemade may not have the brand name recognition of Benjamin Sesko yet, despite being a year older, but his exploits at the U21s Euros were enough to get people to take notice.
Whether he's ready to step up to the Premier League, we have no idea, but if Newcastle sign Yoane Wissa, we'd be fine with him leading the line while Nick Woldemed and Will Osula get up to speed to take over in a year or two.
It may be a step back after having Alexander Isak, but there aren't any players out there at his level, so we couldn't move forward if we didn't have all the obstacles in our way. If Isak does go this summer, we have to rebuild, and to be honest, taking a step back to build at a slower pace may not be the worst thing.
This side has overachieved for the last three seasons, and it's clear that the game's new rules won't allow us to catch up off the pitch, so we need to grow the revenue with the team at a similar pace so we don't find ourselves in this awkward position again. It's a difficult concept to get behind, we appreciate that, especially now that we've tasted victory with the Carabao Cup win, but we were never meant to have got here so quickly.
