Uli Hoeneß and Antonio Di Salvo comment on Nick Woltemade transfer saga | OneFootball

As the ongoing saga of Stuttgart striker Nick Woltemade’s potential transfer to Bayern Munich rolls on, more prominent German footballing figures registered comments. Honorary Bayern President Uli Hoeneß – true to form – didn’t mince words when speaking on Woltemade’s potential Bundesliga move. Germany U21 head coach Antonio Di Salvo also couldn’t avoid the topic when speaking after last night’s U21 European Championship Final.

Hoeneß spoke to Kicker on the topic of Woltemade’s transfer fee. The German footballing legend and long-time Bayern chief personnel executive admitted that he felt Stuttgart’s asking price for Germany’s current most talked about footballing talent was fair. Hoeneß nevertheless also chastised his former player and current German footballing pundit Lothar Matthäus for some recent on-air comments.

Matthäus let it be known that Stuttgart must stick to their guns, demanding as much as Bayer Leverkusen did for Florian Wirtz this summer. Woltemade maintains a current estimated market value of €30m. Matthäus recently insisted that Stuttgart not negotiate below the €100m mark.

“I’ve been saying for a long time that Woltemade is one for Bayern,” Hoeneß told Kicker. “And I think it’s right that Bayern are trying to sign him. Although I think €60 million is too little. I wouldn’t have been surprised if they [Stuttgart] had asked for €80 to €100 million.”

“Lothar Matthäus has a screw loose,” Hoeneß still added angrily. “These experts [Hoeneß specifically named Matthäus, Didi Hamann, Fredi Bobic, and Michael Reschke] have been a thorn in my side for a long time.”

A poor performance in last night’s UEFA U21 championship Final could conceivably cool the Woltemade transfer talk for a bit. Germany U21 head coach Antonio Di Salvo addressed Woltemade’s form dip,. something that was ultimately foreseeable once it was revealed that the 23-year-old would be pulling double international duty this summer.

“There’s been a lot of chatter,” Di Salvo remarked in the mixed zone last night. “And Nick both hears and reads things. But I spoke to him and everything was fine. At the end of the day, we got off to a really bad start and that was the deciding factor. Distractions and background noise weren’t ideal, but that wasn’t the reason we lost the game.”

GGFN | Peter Weis