Bayern Munich board member Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has made another attempt at ridiculing Newcastle United’s decision to pay a club-record fee for Nick Woltemade, calling the Premier League side “foolish” for meeting Stuttgart’s demands.
The 23-year-old striker signed for Newcastle in August for an initial €75million (£65m; $87.6m) plus €5m (£4.3m; $5.8m) in add-ons, after Bayern themselves had pursued him as a long-term successor to Harry Kane.
“I can only congratulate the people in Stuttgart for finding
– let me use quotation marks here – ‘a fool’ who paid that much money, because we certainly wouldn’t have done that in Munich,” Rummenigge told Bild.
Bayern had discussed three separate valuations for Woltemade, the highest of which was €60m, but the German champions pulled out once Stuttgart made it clear they would not sell below €75m.
“I’ll be honest: When this story about Woltemade and then the demands of Stuttgart came up, I, as well as Uli, Herbert Hainer, Jan Dreesen, and Max Eberl, said: guys, we’re reaching figures that I no longer find acceptable,” Rummenigge said. “We shouldn’t meet every demand to make someone happy, especially the financiers at Stuttgart.”
Woltemade has made five appearances for Newcastle so far, scoring twice. Internally, some at the club are puzzled by Bayern’s insistence on commenting on the transfer weeks after the deal was completed, particularly given Newcastle’s need for reinforcements following the sale of Alexander Isak.
