Newcastle head coach Matthias Jaissle has explained that Nick Woltemade decided to join Juventus on loan after learning that several other players would be ahead of him in the pecking order at the Premier League club, but insists that he still values the Germany international as he is ‘still one of our players’.
Jaissle: ‘Newcastle had one or two players ahead of Woltemade’
Woltemade joined Juventus on a season-long loan deal on the final day of the summer transfer window.
Newcastle had invested around €75m with bonuses included to sign the towering attacker from VfB Stuttgart the summer before, but then sanctioned a straight, season-long loan deal without an option to buy for an initial fee of just €2.8m at the start of September.
Woltemade has since made four appearances in Serie A, all of which have come off the bench, but his performances and preferred position, when head coach Luciano Spalletti really wanted another out-and-out centre-forward, have already divided opinions in Italy.
Jaissle has since commented on the decision to let Woltemade leave on loan for Juventus and the fact that he still has several years remaining on his Newcastle contract in an interview with German outlet Kicker.
“We explained his position in the team to him, which was linked to our style of high pressing, and in that moment, there were one or two players in front of him,” Jaissle explained when discussing the decision to let Woltemade join Juventus.
The loan deal does not include any formal buy option, though, which Jaissle is well aware of.
“I have a very high opinion of him and he remains one of our players because he is only on loan.”