Nick Woltemade was happy to have caught the eye of Newcastle “legend” Alan Shearer after powering home a header of which his predecessor would have been proud.
Debutant Woltemade marked his first appearance at St James’ Park with a superb finish from Jacob Murphy’s inviting cross, in the process sealing a 1-0 win over Wolves, the Magpies’ first of the season.
His contribution prompted Shearer, the Premier League’s record goalscorer and a renowned header of the ball, to take to his X account and post: “What a cross and an even better header”.
Asked about the former Newcastle captain’s comment, Woltemade said: “Of course he’s the legend. He scored a lot of goals and of course I’m happy about it.”
He added: “I worked a lot on it the last weeks, the last months and the last year. With my height, I guess you have to. You can get more goals if you can have a good header.
“A header always feels good as a striker, especially if you work on it every week, so I was just happy when the ball was going in.”
Woltemade’s debut came after just four training sessions with his new team-mates, but if he was thrown in at the deep end on Saturday, he will have an even tougher assignment on Thursday evening when Barcelona arrive on Tyneside in the first round of Champions League fixtures.
Twenty-eight years ago, Faustino Asprilla famously scored a stunning hat-trick against the Catalan giants in a 3-2 win for the Magpies at St James’, and the Germany international is relishing the opportunity to test himself on European club football’s biggest stage.
He said: “It’s my first Champions League game at home here at St James’ Park against Barcelona. I guess it can’t be better, so I’m really looking forward to it.
“I want to score goals, but I guess today was also important that we won the game. Now I want to keep going and try my best every game, and if then the goals come, of course I’m really happy about it.”
Woltemade made an early exit from Saturday’s game, later revealing he had cramped up in the heat of Premier League battle.
Asked if he had found it faster than the Bundesliga, he said: “Yes, it’s faster, also the duels are more intense.
“I guess the Premier League is the highest level of intensity, so I keep working on it and have to adapt to this league.”
