Sky Sports pundit Micah Richards has revealed that Thierry Henry was “banging on” about Nick Woltemade before his record-breaking move to Newcastle United.
Newcastle United broke their transfer record to sign Woltemade from Stuttgart, and it’s thought the deal they agreed with the German club could reach as high as £69million.
The forward has already opened his account for Newcastle United, scoring the winner on his Premier League debut against Wolves earlier this month.
He has, however, been unable to build on that since in the following games against Barcelona and Bournemouth respectively.
Still, that’s not really Woltemade’s fault. Newcastle’s attack is yet to really click this season after so much change over the course of the summer.
The striker has certainly shown enough to get excited about. Indeed, it seems Henry – one of Europe’s greatest forwards in recent history – is a fan.
- Who is Nick Woltemade? The ‘two-metre Messi-Musiala’ Newcastle United broke transfer record to sign
Thierry Henry has been speaking about Nick Woltemade
Richards was on punditry duty for Sky Sports during a busy day of action across the Premier League.
Before the Bournemouth game, the former Manchester City defender was discussing Woltemade.
He revealed that Henry, with whom he works alongside for CBS Sports occasionally, was “banging on” about the Germany international before his move to Newcastle.
Richards also praised the striker for his footballing IQ.
“He’s a very good striker, I know people talk about the price tag but he’s got the movement, he’s good in the air and we actually knew about him before because Thierry was banging on about him.
“He came from Stuttgart and he’s just got a presence in there. Of course, he’s not the most mobile because he’s big but he can run in behind and use his body to his strength.”
Richards added: “I think his football intelligence, his football IQ, the timing of his runs, he knows where to be. He can link-up, he can dribble as well.
“It’s just something different, everyone is always going to compare him to [Alexander] Isak but not everyone can be Isak.”
Newcastle United players cautious about Nick Woltemade
Sections of the Newcastle United squad do not want to put too much pressure on Woltemade too quickly.
He is still relatively inexperienced and, while he has made a positive impression, it would be foolish to instantly expect him to replace a striker as fully formed as Alexander Isak.
There’s obviously excitement about the player’s talent and there have already been glimpses of that on Tyneside.
At some point, things will surely click into place. For now, however, it is wise to treat this as a gradual process.
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