£124 million, that was the combined cost Newcastle paid in the 2025 Summer Transfer Window for Nick Woltemade and Yoane Wissa, who are brought in as replacements for the departing Alexander Isak, who ended up joining Liverpool for a British-record £125 million. The belief from Newcastle was that Woltemade, who was seen as one of the Bundesliga's most promising young strikers, and Wissa, who had already established himself as a Premier League proven striker with Brentford, would be able to fill the void left by Isak.
Alexander Isak was without a doubt Newcastle's best player, and also their star man. Although his debut season at Liverpool has been nothing than a disaster due to injuries, no one can deny that a fit and firing Isak is one of the best strikers in world football. In fact, the Swedish striker scored 23 goals for Newcastle in his final season.
Fast forward to the current season, Woltemade and Wissa combined have only scored a combined total of 8 goals in the Premier League this season, with Wissa only contributing to 1 of those 8. In short, both the Alexander Isak replacement strikers of Newcastle are at a huge risk of becoming big-money flops at the club.
The £124 million worth strikers who are not even the manager's first-choice number 9
Nick Woltemade had a dream start to his Newcastle career, and was frequently scoring in his early Premier League games for the club. In fact, this even led to some fans claiming that the German was better than Isak. However, the golden period soon went away, as Woltemade went from looking like a solid signing who adapted seamlessly to the Premier League to now a shadow of that stunning player.
Coming to Wissa, his time at Newcastle so far has been absolutely disastrous, and he could very well end up as one of their worst signings in history if he doesn't improve soon. After his move to Newcastle was official, Wissa suffered a serious Injury that kept him out for several months. Once he made much-awaited return, he showed glimpses of scoring abilities that were seen at Brentford. However, similar to Woltemade, now Wissa is another player that has been shockingly poor.
The situation is now so worse that Eddie Howe, Newcastle's manager, uses winger Anthony Gordon as his first-choice striker for the club. Wissa can't even get into the same at the moment, while Woltemade is being used in a midfield role by the manager. Gordon, who had a poor start to the season, has been impressive for the past few months, and also looks to be adapting to his new role as well. However, this shouldn't be the case for a top club like Newcastle with they spent a mammoth combined £124 million on these 2 players.
The fact that Howe prefers Gordon over Woltemade and Yissa as a striker also indicates that these were probably not 2 players wanted to have as his Alexander Isak replacements at the club. This seems to be a case where Newcastle's scouting department found these 2 players to be perfect fits for the club, but the current reality suggests that they have gotten both these transfers absolutely wrong.
Can Nick Woltemade and Yoane Wissa have a successful career at Newcastle?
As things stand, things are not looking good for Woltemade and Yissa. However, what we know about both these players is that they are undoubtedly talented, and there is a chance that we might see the best of them in the next season. A lot will also depend on who Newcastle will bring in the Summer transfer window to support these players with quality passes and crosses. Let us wait and see if the Alexander Isak replacements at Newcastle end up as a success or not.
