Alan Shearer says £69m Newcastle star has become ‘an issue’ for Eddie Howe
Alan Shearer believes Nick Woltemade has become ‘an issue’ for Eddie Howe and feels the striker is ‘not suited’ to Newcastle United’s style of play.
Woltemade joined Newcastle in a £69 million deal from Bundesliga side Stuttgart last August off the back of an impressive campaign with Germany at the European Under-21 Championship where he scored six goals in five games.
The 24-year-old made an encouraging start at Newcastle with five goals in his first 10 appearances, but his form has dipped over the winter period and he has found the net just once in 15 games in 2026.
Woltemade struggled to make an impact in Newcastle’s 2-1 defeat away to Manchester City on Saturday night and Shearer is concerned over the striker’s suitability for Howe’s side.
‘Clearly Woltemade is an issue for Newcastle,’ Shearer told Premier League Productions.
‘Because the money they spent on him, near enough £70m, then deciding to play Gordon as a centre-forward tells you he’s not quite been what they thought he could be in that position.
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‘They’re trying to work out what’s best for him. Is he a No.10? Probably not. They try and play him in more of a midfield role, well, you see he can’t press, because he hasn’t got the legs, he hasn’t got the energy to do what Eddie Howe’s teams have done which have made Newcastle successful over the years. You saw that with the second [Manchester City] goal, when he goes to press he was beaten far too easily. He is an issue for Newcastle.
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‘It was always going to be a difficult situation because of the Isak situation, because of what he did and what happened. It hasn’t worked well for anyone. It hasn’t worked well for Isak, it certainly hasn’t worked for Liverpool with him and from my point of view and from Newcastle’s point of view, it certainly didn’t help them because they were forced into paying, I think, far too much money for two forwards in Woltemade and [Yoane] Wissa, roughly around £125m on those two.
‘And they’re still working out and figuring out how to get the best of Woltemade because his game, his stature, his pace of play is not suited to what Newcastle have done in being successful under Eddie Howe with the energy.
‘When Newcastle were at their very best, Newcastle were going after teams and pressing and not giving them any time to play whatsoever, but he [Woltemade] can’t do that.
‘That tells you he’s [Howe] playing a winger in a centre-forward position that he has an issue in there.’
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Article source: https://metro.co.uk/2026/02/22/alan-shearer-says-69m-newcastle-star-become-an-issue-eddie-howe-27040236/