Nick Woltemade ready to take 'winning mentality' to Germany U21s
Rising German star Nick Woltemade continues to live life in the footballing fast lane. The VfB Stuttgart striker captured the DFB Pokal title with his Bundesliga club a couple of weeks ago. Shortly thereafter, he made his senior German national team debut.
Woltemade impressed in his first start for country, so much so that his stay with the seniors was unexpectedly extended.The 23-year-old will nevertheless not have time to relish his second game under Julian Nagelsmann.
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As soon as Sunday's fixture is completed, Woltemade is due in the camp of Germany U21 head coach Antonio di Salvo.The highly talented forward shall pull double duty for country this summer. The DFB expects him to help out in the coming U21 European championship.
Woltemade spoke on his meteoric rise this year in an interview published on the German FA's website. The Bremen-native could have hardly envisaged all of these exciting developments just one year ago.
Stuttgart snapped Woltemade up on a free from Bremen last summer. At the time, he maintained an estimated €7.5m market value. VfB head coach Sebastian Hoeneß famously left him off Stuttgart's squad for the 2024/25 Champions League group stages.
Thanks to 17 goals across all competitions for club this season, Woltemade is now a bonafide €30m-valued star. He also got his name on the scoresheet in all four U21 appearances for country this year and scored a hat trick in his last U21 match.
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'When I was little, I always hoped that I would be able to achieve these goals one day,' Woltemade noted in his DFB interview. 'The fact that it's all happening so quickly is very exciting and also very crazy. I'm hoping there's more success this summer and it leads to a good conclusion.'\
Woltemade commented on his re-union with former Werder Bremen teammate Niclas Füllkrug on the German national team as well. Füllkrug and Woltemade played alongside each other for three seasons in both the Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga between 2019 and 2022.
Woltemade would end up missing the Bundesliga campaign that rendered Füllkrug an unlikely German national team star (2022/23) as he was on loan at SV Elversberg. Füllkrug's move to Dortmund the subsequent autumn finally enabled him to start getting some minutes for his academy side.
'Back then, I said: Imagine if we play together for the national team one day,' Woltemade said of the last time he and Füllkrug played together, in the German second division no less. 'It's really funny.'
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As for his impressions of the Julian Nagelsmann's senior Nationalmannschaft, Woltemade stuck to some simple praise of DFB captain Joshua Kimmich. After that, it was time to look forward to the U21 tournament and next summer's World Cup.
'Jo Kimmich in particular exemplifies the winning mentality of the guys here,' Woltemade said. 'I will try to take this mentality with me to the U21s. Hopefully, I'll have a few more senior international caps under my belt by then [next summer's World Cup.]'
GGFN | Peter Weis
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