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Nick Woltemade's Newcastle debut already has Toon fans asking: Alexander who?
The Magpies' replacement for departed frontman Alexander Isak made a scoring start to life on Tyneside with their opening goal against Wolves on Saturday. Woltemade, a club-record $93.5million (£69m) signing from Stuttgart, rose to head home Jacob Murphy's floated cross to get off the mark for his new club after 29 minutes.
That is before Isak has even kicked a ball for his new employers after breaking Liverpool's club-record transfer deal in a $169.4m (£125m) switch the day after Woltemade's move to St James' Park was confirmed. Isak, who went on strike at Newcastle to force through his move, got his first minutes of the season as a substitute for Sweden against Kosovo in midweek and is expected to make his Liverpool debut against Burnley on Sunday.
But Newcastle supporters appear to have already moved on after revelling in Woltemade's immediate impact.
After the 23-year-old's bullet header, Toon fans inside St James' broke into a chorus of "Woltemade, Woltemade, ole, ole, ole." And he left the field to a standing ovation when he was subbed off just after the hour.
Supporters were also gushing over the German's quality on social media as they welcomed the start of an exciting new era. "Woltemade has arrived…. He he," one wrote, as another said: "That is some way to announce yourself to your new fans. Nick Woltemade is about to set the league alight."
One fan took the opportunity to fling a brutal swipe at Isak, writing: "What an insane goal Woltemade - beautiful. Best striker we've had in years."
Another said: "Imagine if Woltemade scores more goals for Newcastle than Isak does for Liverpool this season."
A more measured response conceded that Newcastle had let an incredible talent go, but were enthusiastic about Woltemade's arrival. "Isak is the best striker in the world. And I say this with no irony - Nick Woltemade makes us a better team."
Many of the Toon faithful were also quick to celebrate the new threat Woltemade, who stands at 6ft 6in, will bring to their attack. "Woltemade looks very good so far, great in the link-up play and class in the air," one wrote, with another predicting: "Nick Woltemade is going to be an aerial problem for the whole league."
Others were quick to draw comparisons between Woltemade and the man Newcastle missed out on, Manchester United's new striker Benjamin Sesko, who is yet to break his duck for the Red Devils. "Woltemade scoring before Sesko is f****** hilarious," one fan laughed.
Woltemade's goal made him only the third German player to score on his Premier League debut - and the first in over three decades.
Uwe Rosler scored for Manchester City against QPR before Jurgen Klinsmann did the same for Tottenham against Sheffield Wednesday, both in 1994.
Meanwhile, Liverpool boss Arne Slot is confident new signing Isak will prove his talent.
Slot said: "[There are] many reasons [why we signed him] but one that maybe stands out for me is that he has already shown this in the Premier League and I think he is the only exception we made in terms of signing, he is a little bit older than the rest – still quite young but a bit older and showed himself in the Premier League.
"We know that if he stays fit, he will be able to score goals for us. What he adds as well is enormous pace and he can score with both feet, with his head, all these kinds of things, that he has already done this in the Premier League is of course something extra.
"It might put pressure on him and me but if you have this [Liverpool badge] on your shirt there is always pressure, if we wouldn’t have signed him, you would probably have told me that you still expect us to compete for the league, which is what we expect from ourselves so this pressure is always there."
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