Nick Woltemade gushes over Newcastle United as he faces media ahead of Bayer Leverkusen game on Wednesday
Newcastle United take on Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League on Wednesday night with an 8pm kick-off live on TNT Sports.
As is the tradition before a Champions League game, the managers will speak to the media, but so will a representative from the players, and this time around, Eddie Howe sent out Nick Woltemade to speak to the media.
It makes sense given the German striker is returning to the league from which he arrived just three months ago.
Big Nick knows Bayer Leverkusen very well after scoring one and being involved in two other goals in VfB Stuttgart's 4-3 defeat there last season.
Nick Woltemade is clearly loving life in Newcastle
While Woltemade did touch on the quality Bayer Leverkusen possesses and the challenge they will pose, he spent a lot of his time in the spotlight talking up Newcastle United, the city and his teammates, saying how everyone has helped him to settle and adapt. (h/t The Chronicle).
"It is cold right now but it is the same as Germany. Of course, we have a lot of games so I can't see so much of the city but I like where I live and I feel at home. The most important is the club and this club is really nice and I am excited for every home game we play. I've been here for three months and I have proved already a lot. As a person, a new step in a new country it has been really good for me.
"The gaffer worked with me a lot and in the league you don't get so many chances as a striker but I have the feeling I always know I can score a goal. This is what Newcastle has given me a lot even if I haven't touched the ball for a few minutes because my team-mates are so good.I didn't have so many expectations.
"I had good talks with the manager and the club and I had a good feeling about it. My start has been really well but I think it is because the club welcomed me so good. They talked a lot with me, the players gave me a good feeling and I had a feeling that I felt like I was already longer there."
Nick Woltemade admits he used to be compared to Peter Crouch as a youth
Woltemade even revealed to the media that he used to have a nickname when he was 16 based on his resemblance to a certain Peter Crouch.
"I remember him, but if I am honest, I was born in 2002 I didn't watch him so much playing. When I was young my manager in Bremen when I was 16 everybody called me Crouchy because of my playing style and because I looked like him because I was skinny and tall."
It was inevitable, really, as there simply aren't many players with a similar frame as Crouchy and Big Nick. They even play a very similar style.
