Woltemade deployed too deep to be dangerous at Newcastle, says Nagelsmann

Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann said out-of-form Newcastle striker Nick Woltemade’s lack of goalscoring impact was because he is being played in the wrong position at club level.

Newcastle’s record signing after joining from Stuttgart in the summer, Woltemade, 24, scored in four of his first five Premier League games but only has three goals in his past 21 league matches, having not found the net since December.

Speaking in Frankfurt on Thursday after naming Woltemade in Germany’s 26-man squad for March friendlies against Switzerland and Ghana, Nagelsmann said the striker’s versatility meant he was not always deployed in front of goal.

“Eddie Howe has obviously decided — without me knowing any more details — to simply swap his strikers. And that’s perfectly within his rights.”

“And lately, he’s simply — and this is just my opinion — played very deep. When he’s playing as a double pivot, Nick Woltemade has quite a long way to go to get a goal.

“He’s not exactly a classic counter-attacking striker who runs at 36km/h, leaving opponents in his wake.

“If he’s 80 metres away from goal, I don’t think British journalists can expect him to score 20 goals, he’s simply too far away.”

Nagelsmann promised to play the 1.98-metre (6ft 6in) tall forward, who has four goals in eight Germany games, in a more dangerous position.

“It (Woltemade’s form) has a lot to do with the overall situation. What I can promise is he won’t play 80 metres away from goal with us.

“If we’re playing 80 metres from goal, he won’t play. I’ll try to play him closer, around 30 metres from goal. Then he’ll be dangerous and do a lot of things well.”

The coach said Woltemade would adapt to the demands of Newcastle and the Premier League, pointing to Woltemade’s rapid development in recent years, developing from a bench player at Werder Bremen to leading the line for Germany within a year.

“He’s undoubtedly having a tough time in Newcastle, but that’s also normal,” Nagelsmann said, adding “new culture, new league, new language.

“He also needed time in Stuttgart.”