National coach Julian Nagelsmann has identified serious deficiencies in the DFB team’s attacking game. Ex-Stuttgart native Nick Woltemade should also provide relief.
Nick Woltemade has had a crazy year. The cup victory with VfB Stuttgartthe European Championship final with the U21, his debut for the senior national team, the failed move to FC Bayern, the sensational transfer to Newcastle United – all of this happened within three months. Before the DFB team’s final games in the World Cup qualification against Luxembourg and Slovakia, the next important development in Nick Woltemade’s wild football year is emerging.
Because: National coach Julian Nagelsmann identified an offensive problem in the DFB selection before the groundbreaking duel with Luxembourg (Friday, from 8:45 p.m. in the audio live stream on sportschau.de) and demanded: “We have to become more dangerous!” This not only went to the address of Woltemade, who became Nagelsmann’s number one striker in record time. “He is in great demand for us right now,” said Nagelsmann. He also observed that things happened “very, very quickly” at Woltemade – “from the U21 straight to becoming a regular player for us.” Nevertheless: “His role is super important.” First a talented nobody, then a shooting star at VfB Stuttgart, the move to the island for 90 million euros and now a bearer of hope in the attack of the German national team.
What Woltemade Wirtz has ahead of it
On the one hand, this is due to the injuries to Kai Havertz, Tim Kleindienst and Niclas Füllkrug. On the other hand, Nick Woltemade – unlike magic foot Florian Wirtz – quickly mastered the change from the Bundesliga to the Premier League. While Wirtz is still waiting for his debut goal at Liverpool FC after 16 competitive games, Woltemade has already scored six goals in 14 appearances for Newcastle. But the attacker finds the comparison unfair – to the former Leverkusen player. “I probably stand correctly three or four times, get the ball and shoot it in. He, on the other hand, is very active in the game, has a lot of ball contact and good actions.” Wirtz is “doing his job very well.” This should also benefit Woltemade in the national team.
But other players also belong to the offensive. The national coach sees a major deficiency, and not just because of director Jamal Musiala’s long-term injury. “We don’t have too many classic wingers who feel very comfortable there and go inwards with the ball at their feet,” he said, and “we’re not very well staffed in the offensive eight and ten positions either.” That’s why he gave the eternal problem child Leroy Sané one last chance and nominated the teenagers Said El Mala and Assan Ouédraogo with a view to the World Cup. Nagelsmann also has Lennart Karl and Nicolò Tresoldi on his radar. attacker Deniz Undav from VfB Stuttgart was not nominated for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers.
But Woltemade has to take care of things at the front in the meantime. Like in the 1-0 win in Northern Ireland in October, when he scored for the national team for the first time, with an unorthodox shoulder. The attacker was also recently honored with the DFB’s Fair Play Medal. After the cup victory on May 24, 2025 in Berlin’s Olympic Stadium, the then VfB Stuttgart striker showed sporting greatness in the hour of victory when he talked to the defeated opponents and congratulated them on a strong season performance. The winning goal against Northern Ireland, the award from the DFB – just two of many highlights in Nick Woltemade’s crazy year.
Broadcast on Thursday, November 13th, 2025, 4:00 p.m., The Day in Rhineland-Palatinate, SWR1 Rhineland-Palatinate
