Today on Schalke, back then in Bremen
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In May 2024, the transfer -free change of the then storm talent Nick Woltemade from Werder Bremen to VfB Stuttgart was announced. At that time, sports director was still Frank Baumann, today at FC Schalke 04. The 49-year-old contested that the Bremen would have failed to bind the current international in view of the 85 million euro transfer to Newcastle United, just a year later.
“It can only be a failure if you failed to do everything to keep it. It was definitely not,” Bauman told the newspaper in terms of Woltemade. The attacker was born in Bremen and had gone through the youth at Werder between 2010 and 2020. In 2023/24, after a successful loan, he was part of SV Elversberg Festival to the professional team of coach Ole Werner, but was not able to establish himself as a regular player. Woltemade scored two goals in 30 Bundesliga games, only 1,184 out of 2,700 possible minutes on the field. At VfB, after the transfer, he had conquered a regular place at the latest in December 2024.
Baumann continued: “He was with the youngest player who played in the Bundesliga for Bremen (debut 2020 at the age of 17; editor’s note). He had one of the best contracts of all time for Werder relationships.” The Hanseatic League “tried” over a year earlier “to extend them to” very good conditions “. Therefore, Baumann could not determine any failure at Woltemade. “He decided on a different way. The conviction that he can become a top player always existed.”
Woltemade: Werder-Stleben did not fail because of the money
From the 85 million euros, which Stuttgart receives for the sale of the striker to the Premier League, a training allowance of around EUR 4.25 million goes to Bremen. Shortly after his announcement in the spring of 2024, the VfB was not yet clear as a new club, Woltemade said: “We spoke to Werder for a long time, and it was not about money or that we wanted to achieve something, but it was a conscious decision for a new club and a new step. Such decisions are always difficult. on the nerves, that’s why I did it so early. “
