Newcastle flop Nick Woltemade is ‘a HORSE that likes to be petted and ridden’ as new boss hails ‘sweet’ £65m striker

NICK WOLTEMADE has burst from the stalls at Juventus as new boss Luciano Spalletti compared him to a “very sweet” HORSE. The German striker made the £3.5million loan move to the Serie A from Newcastle in the hopes of regaining form away from the Toon. Nick Woltemade has made a stunning start to life at Juventus Credit: Shutterstock Editorial Head coach Luciano Spalletti praised the German for his versatility on and off the pitch Credit: Getty Woltemade, 24, made two appearances for Newcastle in the 2026/27 season before his deadline day switch to northern Italy. But the German international, with 12 caps and four goals, will not be left with a long face after Spalletti told Tuttosport: “What type of horse is he? Sign up for the Football newsletter Thank you! “I have a Friesian, he seems very similar to me. “He is statuesque, he inspires a bit of fear from a physical point of view and then he is very sweet and lets himself be stroked and ridden. “He becomes very good also in relations with his teammates. “He’s good at holding his own physically, and ever since I met him, he’s been smiling constantly. “He’s so happy to be here, and that’s already a big thing. “With Nick you can play the ball on his feet, he knows how to play horizontally and can also be used vertically because he has this physicality and this height. Most read in Sport BEST FREE BETS AND BETTING SIGN UP OFFERS “Usually it is difficult to find these two worlds in the same player. “The two-metre-tall one is a finisher perhaps in the area but then he is less relational on the pitch. “But instead he has both things and then he has this great quality of being very joyful and very festive also in the way he behaves on the pitch.” Since his switch, the 6ft6in star has made one appearance for Juve in their 1-1 draw against AC Milan, where he clocked just 14 minutes. Woltemade came on in the 75th minute when his home side were trailing 1-0. In a moment of fate, the ball fell at Woltemade’s feet inside the penalty area but the chance was wasted as he was unable to keep the shot down. Juve then capitalised on Woltemade’s magic after he won a free kick in the depths of injury time. And Federico Gatti headed home a dramatic equaliser to secure a stunning point against Ruben Amorim‘s side. The Serie A boss compared Woltemade to a Friesian horse Credit: Alamy Post-match, Spalletti added: “I can help him in the pressure he will encounter at this club. “Even if we start with an advantage because he has the same colours he wore in the previous team (Newcastle). “I told him that we were waiting for a player of this level and this quality. “He brings with him the context of the Premier League, where everything is more physical, faster, and more determined in terms of game situations. “Bringing a bit of Premier League into our team raises our level. We’re happy.” Juventus will travel to Sassuolo on the weekend, after missing out on Champions League football by three points last season. Meanwhile, Matias Fernandez-Pardo was added to the St. James’ Park outfit for a whopping £51.4million on the same day as Woltemade’s exit. But the winger is not a like-for-like replacement for the No9 role. Comment now