Signing for a club record fee of £68m, Nick Woltemade was at the very centre of not only one of Newcastle's craziest transfer windows but one of the craziest the Premier League had ever seen.

The backdrop to his signature was Isak saga. Newcastle's star striker going on strike and refusing to play in any of the first three games of the season (or any pre-season match) as he tried to force his way to Liverpool. Isak would eventually leave in the last moments of deadline day for a British club record fee of £130m, with United having tried to persuade him to stay but with the player and his agent saying he would never pull on a black and white shirt again.

Newcastle, for their part, had said they would only sanction the deal if three conditions were met.

1. The sining of two strikers (a replacement for Isak and one for the aging Calum Wilson who'd been rightly allowed to leave given his injury issues)
2. An appropriate fee could be agreed

Newcastle had trawled the transfer market. They'd failed continually with bid after bid for players who would mainly choose to go to the old establish 'six' clubs in England instead.

Then, out of left field and out of the blue, game the news that Nick was to be signed.

Top goalscorer in the 2025 U21 championships, his reputation had rocketed in a very short space of time. So much so that Bayern Munich had failed with two bids for him already in the 2025 transfer window, as they saw him as the long term replacement for Harry Kane.

It would take £68m to get him to Newcastle. United trusting in the same scouting that had found Isak, Bruno and Tonali in the hope that Woltemade would be the next big thing and fill the sizeable gap left by the sulking Isak.