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Woltemade's 'British humour' helped him fit in at Newcastle - Howe / Photo: Oli SCARFF - AFP/File
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Woltemade's 'British humour' helped him fit in at Newcastle - Howe
Newcastle manager Eddie Howe said Nick Woltemade's British sense of humour helped him adapt to life in England, ahead of Wednesday's Champions League clash in the striker's native Germany against Bayer Leverkusen.
Howe on Tuesday called the 1.98-metre-tall (6ft 5in) striker "a funny guy -- and I meant that in the nicest sense".
"I think he has British humour," Howe added. "He came in with a very good way of approaching a transfer. He came in, felt at home, made people laugh.
"He has gone in wholeheartedly to the Newcastle way of life and what the team and the city requires when you play for this football club.
"He's done brilliantly."
Newcastle have won three of five matches in the Champions League this season and sit one point, but six places, ahead of Leverkusen in a congested middle of the table.
Woltemade has seven goals in 19 games since he moved to Newcastle from Stuttgart in the summer for a £69 million ($92 million) fee and is emerging as a cult figure on Tyneside.
The 23-year-old said he brushed off criticisms of his transfer fee, including from Bayern Munich powerbroker Karl-Heinz Rummenigge who said Stuttgart had "found an idiot who paid the money" in September.
"I don't care. I don't read it," Woltemade said Tuesday, adding: "I focus on myself and at the end I am not deciding what someone is paying for me.
"I am happy Newcastle has paid this for me because I am really happy in Newcastle."
Leverkusen coach Kasper Hjulmand said the "very dangerous" Woltemade was "technically better than he looks", adding "you don't have many players with that size who also have the technical abilities that he has".
Leverkusen and England centre-back Jarell Quansah said his side would pay extra attention to the "unorthodox" Woltemade.
The former Liverpool defender, who made his England debut in November, faced Woltemade when the latter played for Germany at the U21 Euros in June.
Quansah on Tuesday compared Woltemade to two-metre-tall ex-England forward Peter Crouch.
"He's unorthodox, sort of like Peter Crouch, a traditional sort of taller striker, good at holding up the ball and good in the box -- but you feel he's got a lot more to his game than that," Quansah said.
"He's a really good player and someone we need to look out for."
Woltemade revealed he was nicknamed "Crouchy" as a teenager but admitted: "If I'm honest, I was born in 2002 so I don't remember him playing so much."
D.Mayer--BlnAP
