Good Morning in the Americas, Afternoon in Europe/Africa, and Good Evening to everyone in Asia! Today’s featured prospect from the U21 Euro’s is Germany’s Nick Woltemade. A true unicorn of a player, Woltemade stands at 198cm tall, has a decently strong frame, and has impressive agility and mobility for someone of his height. To profile him as a target forward because of his height would be a massive mistake, as Woltemade can bring so much more to a match.
It is very difficult to make a player comparison for this type of player, I can’t remember the last time I saw someone of this height moving on the pitch like they thought they were a winger. The best I can do is that Woltemade’s potential lies somewhere in between a Sebastian Haller, and a poor man’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic (that’s a huge compliment, becoming 50% of the player Zlatan was will give Woltemade a successful career). In terms of style though, Woltemade does remind me a bit of a young Zlatan, a physically imposing forward who also has flair and creativity.
Throughout this tournament, Woltemade has been a star man for Germany U21. In 4 matches so far (he sat the final group stage match nursing an injury), Woltemade has produced a hat trick against Slovenia, a goal and two assists against Czechia, another goal and assist against Italy in the quarterfinals, and a goal against France in their recent semifinal victory. So going into the final, Woltemade is averaging 2 goal contributions per 90. After a season with VfB Stuttgard where he scored 12 goals in 28 appearances in the league, along with 5 goals in 5 DFB Pokal matches, Woltemade was one of the older players eligible for this tournament, and has showed his experience.
Off the ball, Woltemade is a strong presser, showing his Bundesliga education. He knows how to angle his runs when pressing to force the opposition into moving the ball where he wants them to, and has an eye for an opportunity to win the ball back high up the pitch. For someone of his size, he is very quick and agile. So far, Woltemade has recorded 13 recoveries and two tackles won, while committing just 6 fouls and receiving no cards.
In duels, Woltemade has been best in the tournament. Most duels won in the tournament so far (26), along with the most aerial duels won in the tournament (11). He has won 10 fouls, and only been dispossessed 7 times on 165 touches. He showed very impressive strength (the one thing I thought could be lacking in such a tall player), in the semifinal vs France, often holding onto the ball while being fouled and retaining possession under pressure for Germany.
On the ball, Woltemade wants to create scoring chances, either for himself or his teammates. He is a very direct player, always looking for the quickest route to a shot on goal. He can dribble his man very effectively, and has a good eye for a pass. Woltemade set up the shot that eventually turned into Germany’s first goal against France, though he won’t be credited with an assist. I really cannot stress how much his mobility and technical ability impressed me as a player with his size and stature. We see a lot of physically imposing strikers, and their weakness is usually technical. With Woltemade, this is not the case. Even in the Bundesliga against fully grown men, Woltemade averaged a very respectable 0.58xG per 90, exceeding this with his xGoT of 0.72 per 90. This indicates that Woltemade regularly produced higher chances to score with his finishing ability than the shot was worth. Based on his expected numbers, Woltemade was producing an expected goal every two matches, and an expected assist every 5 matches. This prorates to ~ 26/27 goal contributions in a 38 match season. Woltemade had a dribble success rate of 46%, putting him above average for Bundesliga forwards, and was in the 97th percentile in the Bundesliga for touches in the opposition box (averaging 10 per 90).
Mentally, Woltemade looked a determined and motivated player. If his potential is to be a poor man’s Zlatan, then I can almost assure that he will be a more coachable player than Zlatan was (lol). The danger here is if Woltemade becomes another in the long list of misprofiled Bundesliga forwards joining a Premier League team. Sebastian Haller, one of the other better comparisons for player type, was doing fantastic in the Bundesliga playing as the second striker off the #9, until he went to West Ham in the Premier League who saw a strong striker, and tried to force him into a target man role. Woltemade is NOT a target forward, I cannot stress this enough. He can play as an inside forward off the left very effectively, as a lone striker, or in a strike pairing. Given his technical ability and chance creation, combined with the significant aerial advantage that he would have over most fullbacks, I think long term the inside forward role off the left side is Woltemade’s best role. While he can effectively receive long balls under pressure and play hold-up in the centre of the pitch, I think combining Woltemade with another aerially-competent striker could be very dangerous. In the semifinal against France, the Germany coach showed what this could look like, starting Woltemade on the LW, and Nelson Weiper (192cm tall, strong striker) up top. Each player would draw several defenders to them, opening up space for the other. It was near impossible for France to effectively defend both Woltemade and Weiper without leaving Ansgar Knauff wide open off the RW.
There have been rumours throughout this tournament that Chelsea are looking to buy Woltemade. Given their current striker depth of Liam Delap, Nicolas Jackson, and Marc Guiu, I can confidently say that Woltemade would be an immediate upgrade on Guiu as a 3rd striker, and very well could find himself surpassing Jackson in the pecking order if he does join Chelsea. With the right development, and if he is played in a role suiting his abilities, I believe Nick Woltemade can become a top top striker in Europe. Having already been given his first senior team callup, his performance at the U21 Euro will only cement Julian Nagelsmann’s decision to include Woltemade in his plans.
A truly unique type of prospect, with potential to be the closest player to Zlatan that we have seen since the big Swede retired. I do not believe that Woltemade is dependent on the additional time and space afforded to him in the half spaces that is a trend in the Bundesliga, and could translate his game effectively to the Premier League, La Liga, or Serie A.
Nick Woltemade, absolutely One to Watch.
futbird 