By Zach Lowy
Again in the summertime of 2023, Stuttgart had narrowly survived the drop after defeating Hamburg within the promotion/relegation playoff, while Nick Woltemade was coming off a promising season in Germany’s third division. Quick-forward to at this time, and Stuttgart have since completed second within the Bundesliga, certified for the UEFA Champions League, and ended an 18-year trophy drought. As for Woltemade, he’s gone from an unknown commodity to some of the thrilling younger strikers in Europe.
Born in Bremen, Germany, Woltemade joined Werder Bremen’s academy in 2010 and ascended the ranks for membership and nation earlier than turning into the youngest participant in Werder Bremen’s historical past to make their Bundesliga debut on February 1, 2020. With common minutes exhausting to come back by, Werder Bremen loaned him out to SV Elversberg for the 2022/23 season, the place he led the membership to a second-straight promotion with 17 objectives and 10 assists in 35 appearances. It was sufficient to see him win the three. Liga Participant of the Season award and earn a heightened function within the first workforce; nevertheless, aside from a brace towards Borussia Mönchengladbach, Woltemade failed to attain in any of his 29 Bundesliga appearances through the 2023/24 season.
That definitely didn’t dissuade Stuttgart, who signed him on a free switch and tied him all the way down to a four-year contract. Initially seen as a long-term gamble, Woltemade was an unused substitute of their opening match vs. Bayer Leverkusen within the DFL-SuperCup and was excluded from their UEFA Champions League squad, however he however made an impression on Stuttgart supervisor Sebastian Hoeneß together with his spectacular late cameos off the bench. He opened his Bundesliga account in November with a purpose vs. Eintracht Frankfurt earlier than grabbing a brace vs. Union Berlin and a purpose and help at Heidenheim. By the point 2025 rolled round, it was already evident that Woltemade was not going to be a rotation possibility, however one of many first names on the workforce sheet.
Standing at 6’6”, Woltemade could appear to be your common goal man striker, however he’s way more versatile than that. Boasting splendid shut management and bodily prowess, Woltemade is expert at holding up possession and driving challenges while protecting the ball glued to his toes in addition to unleashing teammates with completely weighted by way of balls or backheel flicks. He thrives at dropping deep and luring in defenders earlier than exploiting the vacated house with both a fast give-and-go, a lofted move, or a robust run into the field. It’s exactly these attributes that prompted Stuttgart captain Atakan Karazor to dub him a “two-meter Messi-Musiala.”
Woltemade has rapidly established himself as an important cog in assault for Stuttgart, scoring in every of their 5 cup matches – together with the opening purpose of their 4-2 win towards Arminia Bielefeld within the DFB-Pokal Ultimate – racking up 12 objectives and a couple of assists in 28 Bundesliga appearances, and making his debut for Germany’s senior workforce within the UEFA Nations League Finals. After finishing his breakout marketing campaign for Stuttgart, he then departed for Slovakia, the place he guided Germany to the UEFA European Below-21 Championship Ultimate with a tournament-high six objectives.
Right this moment, nevertheless, Woltemade’s future is up within the air, with German champions Bayern Munich eyeing a transfer for the younger attacker. Having misplaced two essential figures in Thomas Müller and Leroy Sané, Woltemade’s versatility and technical grace may Bayern to kill two birds with one stone by giving them a real competitor to Harry Kane within the No. 9 place in addition to a participant who can deputise on the flanks and even fill in for the injured Jamal Musiala as an attacking midfielder.
“Woltemade is an extremely skilful participant whose major strengths are dribbling and link-up play,” said The Athletic’s Alex Barker. “It’s so tempting to check him to Zlatan Ibrahimović because of his dimension and technical capacity…he’s a type of gamers able to driving straight by way of the center of a defence. He must work on his taking pictures – I’d wish to see him lace his pictures extra – and his capacity within the air. Regardless of being a large, he’s not good at utilizing his dimension to bully others, which reveals in a comparatively weak aerial win charge for his dimension. However on the similar time, most of his sport is sort of suited to Bayern’s play when it comes to linking up properly in tight areas and protecting management of the ball.”
Seems may be deceiving, and that’s definitely been the case with Woltemade. Able to zig-zagging by way of congested areas, timing his last-man runs to perfection, and taking up his man with outstanding effectivity, Woltemade is a multi-faceted striker who thrives at dismantling opposing defences together with his dribbling, probability creation, and taking pictures. Woltemade has already adopted within the footsteps of Ousmane Dembélé, Jude Bellingham, and Florian Wirtz by profitable the VDV Bundesliga Newcomer of the Season award, and it’s seemingly solely a matter of time earlier than he follows within the footsteps of Serhou Guirassy, Waldemar Anton, and Hiroki Itō by turning into the most recent Stuttgart participant to earn a profitable switch. The one query is: will that switch are available in 2025 or 2026?
Regardless of the reply is, one factor’s for certain: Nick Woltemade’s inventory is simply going to proceed rising within the coming months. And at 23 years of age, there’s each cause to consider that he’ll proceed so as to add layers to his sport and problem the likes of Niclas Füllkrug, Deniz Undav, Tim Kleindienst and Kai Havertz for Germany’s beginning No. 9 function going into subsequent summer season’s FIFA World Cup.
(Cowl picture from IMAGO)
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