£3BN TRANSFER WINDOW

Premier League clubs spent more than ever before this summer - FFT assesses some of the highest profile signings made away from Anfield

- Words Joe Donnohue

Woltemade's move to St James' Park came out of the blue, a bit reminiscent of his emergence for both Stuttgart and the German national team.

A product of Werder Bremen's youth setup, the 23-year-old has blossomed later on in his career than many of his Premier League peers. Woltemade had only a handful of cameo Bundesliga appearances before going out on loan to the third tier at 20, where he scooped the title with SV Elversberg and won the division's player of the year award after finding his goalscoring groove.

Returning to his hometown club, that eye for goal didn't translate in the top flight, at least not until his departure. Bremen said, “Auf wiedersehen, pet” to Frankenstein's footballer a year ago. This summer there's a German football executive crying into his stein.

'Buying the dip' is a stock market term for purchasing an asset while its price has temporarily fallen, and Stuttgart managed exactly that with Woltemade. Now, 18 goals in 36 games after arriving on a free transfer, the club have turned around a tidy profit on the frontman. Standing at 6ft 6in, he's a physical anomaly, but not only because he resembles a floppy-haired version of Grey's Monument in Newcastle city centre. He's effective in the air, as you might expect, but deceptively adept at beating his man on the ground, too. You can use him as a target for long balls or deploy him off the left as a more conventional forward in a surprisingly fluid big man-little man combination. Alternatively, have some fun mocking up AI-generated images of Woltemade and his shorter, Scouse doppelganger Anthony Gordon winning the men's doubles title at Wimbledon.

Woltemade's penalty box presence is superb, demonstrated at this summer's Under-21 Euros where he netted six times in five matches for the German side that finished runners-up, earning him the tournament's golden boot.