The world seen from almost two metres of height can appear so small that you feel like a giant. And small, to Nick Woltemade’s eyes, must have seemed the goal at the Munich stadium where Klopp’s Germany were beating Serbia: half an hour from the final whistle, the Juventus striker is served the most comfortable ball imaginable — a clean, perfect trajectory waiting to be converted into a goal rather than dispatched into the terraces. Which is what happened. The open goal. The left foot. Two metres of distance. The ball into the crowd. Pandemonium. The reverse special effect goes viral, lands directly inside the German press — “Help, we have a problem… the number 9,” the mantra across the newspapers — and simultaneously, through a different set of corridors, into the Continassa.
Under Examination — “What Kind of Player Actually Landed at Caselle?”
Munich calls, Turin responds, and the thread connecting them is the same question. Woltemade’s adventure in the shadow of the Mole has barely begun — but it is already rich in reflections. Spalletti had hoped the “new” Klopp effect — the German legend freshly installed as national team manager — might return a more motivated, morale-boosted striker to the Continassa after the break. It has not worked out that way.
The assessment does not pretend to constitute a final judgment — it would be absurd after little more than a month — but what the Bremen giant has shown so far has neither warmed hearts nor reinforced the convictions and credibility he will need to spend freely in the immediate future. The honest reality, as Woltemade himself has acknowledged with disarming candour, is that he considers himself more of a number nine-and-a-half than a pure centre-forward, and has not hidden his limited aerial ability despite standing 198cm tall. The squandered chance at Reggio Emilia — in the Sassuolo match — had already given early warning.
The Structural Mismatch — Juventus Need a Nine, Woltemade Is a Nine-and-a-Half
This is the article’s most clinical passage. Juventus needed — and need — a centre-forward capable of aggressively occupying the opposition penalty area. What they have instead is a player with a pronounced tendency to drift out of the red zone to seek the dialogue with teammates around him. “All useful and beautiful,” Gazzetta acknowledges — but at the Continassa, the nine-and-a-halves, and the profiles capable of filling that position, are already abundant. Yıldız is injured but will return from injury. Alajbegović can move behind the striker line. Nico González has already operated in that zone under Spalletti in the opening matches. McKennie is a joker by nature. The specific absence is the pure area striker: the player who plants himself between the opposition’s centre-backs and makes the goal his only purpose. Woltemade has not been that player — and has said himself that he is not.
A Loan That Was Always Temporary — and Increasingly Feels That Way
The formula under which Woltemade arrived is a straight loan: together until June 2027, then return to Newcastle. No purchase option, no right to extend, no mechanism through which Juventus can retain him regardless of what the next seven months produce. The article’s assessment of how that structure will play out is blunt: the atmosphere suggests that these will also be the final terms. The Woltemade chapter ends in June. Germany’s post-Klose number nine problem remains unsolved, and the hope that he might partially trace Klose’s example — already fragile before the Munich miss — has now deflated entirely.
Three New Names in Carnevali’s Notebook — Retegui, Balogun, Raimondo
With the radar necessarily switched on for what is happening elsewhere in the striker market, three names have entered the CEO’s active consideration. Mateo Retegui — one of Spalletti’s own Italy players, now at Al-Qadsiah in the Saudi Pro League — is the most surprising addition to the list and a player whose personal history with the national team manager creates a natural line of communication. Folarin Balogun — eager for a new adventure beyond Monaco — represents the French-American profile that fits the physical and technical requirements. Antonio Raimondo — the revelation of a Frosinone side that has been one of the season’s surprises, owned by Bologna — is the youngest and most forward-looking name of the three.
Woltemade will play his cards. He will be given his opportunities. The Continassa is not in the business of writing off a player after one international miss. But Carnevali is already working on the June solution — the moment when Juventus will be confronted with the same problem for the last time and asked to finally solve it.
