A dig at Eddie Howe? - Germany boss on Nick Woltemade & Newcastle's £69m issue

Nick Woltemade's poor form for Newcastle United over the past few months hasn't stopped Julian Nagelsmann from calling up the forward for Germany.

Questions had been raised over whether Nick Woltemade would be called up for the latest Germany squad after failing to perform for Newcastle of late.

The 6'6" striker has been dropped back into midfield by Eddie Howe as the Newcastle gaffer struggles to find the right thing to do with his £69 million signing, who has come in for some unfair criticism at times.

It has been a very strange season for the German, who was thrown in at the deep end following a club-record move from Stuttgart. He made a super start to life in the Premier League and then faded rapidly as it became clear that his preferred playing style mixed in with Eddie Howe's clashed like oil and water.

Not wanting to give up on his record signing, Howe has tried to play Woltemade in other areas of the pitch with mixed results. And now Germany boss Julian Nagelsmann has commented on the matter.

Nagelsmann's Germany promise to Nick Woltemade

Julian Nagelsmann has spoken to the media about Woltemade's best position (h/t The Mirror), and in doing so, aimed a thinly-veiled dig at Eddie Howe's decision to bring him deeper.

The Germany boss, who backed Big Nick in a recent interview, promised that the former Stuttgart star won't be "80 metres away from goal" when he play in his German side, insisting it's hard for him to score goals in England if he's being asked to play so deep.

"If he wants to get towards goal, it's very unlikely he'll score, because he's not a classic counter-attacking striker who can sprint at 36 km/h to outrun the opponent. And then, when he's 80 metres from goal, I don't think, as a British journalist, you can expect him to score 20 goals, because the distance is simply too great.

"Yes, it always depends a bit on the overall situation. What I can promise is that he's rarely 80 metres away from the goal for us. If we have a game where we're 80 metres away from the goal, he won't play. I try to get him closer to 30 metres from the goal, and then he's dangerous and does a lot of things well.

"I think very highly of him as a person. He's not someone who overthinks things. Nevertheless, the situation bothers me, of course."

We could see a different Woltemade next season

It's hard to argue with Nagelsmann's assessment. Big Nick is not blessed with pace, if we're being polite about it, so having him so far away from goal is not going to help him.

We still believe that with a summer pre-season to work on things, next season Newcastle and Nick Woltemade will be more cohesive, and we'll start to see the best of him.

That is, of course, provided Bayern Munich don't swoop in to try and rescue him from his English nightmare. But we honestly doubt they can afford to do that. WE don't see Newcastle taking a big hit on their £69 million outlay so soon.