Nick Woltemade finally talks about Newcastle United are ‘idiots’ Karl-Heinz Rummenigge rant | OneFootball

There was fury and bitterness from Bayern Munich at the end of the transfer window, when Newcastle United outbid them for Nick Woltemade, many senior Bayern figures embarrassing themselves with their public reaction, including Bayern Munich Supervisory Board member Karl-Heinz Rummenigge who called United ‘idiots’ for paying the transfer fee Stuttgary had held out for.

Now finally, Nick Woltemade himself has commented on what Rummenige said.

The bitterness had been transparent, a number of important Bayern Munich figures making clear just how gutted they were, that their cheap bullying tactics failed to pay off this summer.

Stuttgart refusing to fold as Bayern Munich made a number of lowball offers well below their valuation.

Newcastle United then swooping in and paying the £65m(plus £4.3m in potential future add-ons) that Stuttgart wanted for their star striker, Bayern Munich having made three bids and the highest of those only £52m for Nick Woltemade, who they wanted to be Harry Kane’s long-term replacement.

Nick Woltemade scored yet another two goals on Friday, as the 2-0 win over Luxembourg moved Germany to the brink of 2026 World Cup finals qualification.

Now the Newcastle United star has finally reacted to those Karl-Heinz Rummenigge comments.

Speaking to BILD, Nick Woltemade making clear he is glad he didn’t react publicly at the time to what Rummenigge and other senior Bayern figures said, also revealing how his German teammates from Bayern Munich congratulated him on the move:

“My teammates commented on it, I didn’t.

“I think that was the right thing to do.

A lot was made of my name, Bayern, and transfer fee during the summer; that was the story of the summer.

“To answer your question: the headlines everywhere said “idiots.” – But I read Mr. Rummenigge’s entire statement – it was certainly somewhat unfortunate, but not quite so dramatic.

“When I arrived at the national team, everyone congratulated me. Bayern players also congratulated me. When they see a player taking a step forward, you get congratulations.

“That was the case for me too.

“There were no negative comments [from Bayern players], especially since my circumstances were special.”

Karl-Heinz Rummenigge talking about Newcastle United outbidding Bayern Munich to sign Nick Woltemade – 29 September 2025:

“When this story with Nick Woltemade and then the demands of Stuttgart came up, I, as well as Uli Hoeness, Herbert Hainer, Jan Dreesen, and Max Eberl, said: guys, we’re reaching figures that I no longer find acceptable.

“We shouldn’t meet every demand to make someone happy, especially the financiers at Stuttgart.

“I can only congratulate the people in Stuttgart for finding…let me use quotation marks here, ‘an idiot’ who paid that much money, because we certainly wouldn’t have done that in Munich.

“We have to find a solution [to being able to compete with the financially all powerful Premier League].

“We can’t keep going higher, further, every year.

“Salaries and transfer fees have been rising rapidly in recent years.

“We can’t continue to operate seriously in this way.

“In England, they now have billionaires.

“Or sometimes even states, that own clubs, like Saudi Arabia, Qatar…