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What Chelsea, Man City and Spurs should have learned from Woltemade – but didn't
Updated: 3 Sep 2026 06:00 CDT |
3 min read
Analysis
Transfer records tumbled this summer amid a wave of unprecedented spending from across the Premier League, but as a record, but as a record five players moved for more than €100 million, Nick Woltemade stands as proof that quality of signing matters more than any transfer fee.
The Premier League’s total transfer expenditure for the summer hit a new high that surpassed €4 billion, with Manchester City completing three €100m+ deals to revamp their midfield with Elliot Anderson, Enzo Fernandez and Ayyoub Bouaddi. Liverpool, Tottenham and even Ipswich, meanwhile, wound up with a net transfer spend of €200m or more.
Meanwhile in Europe, Real Madrid set a new club record when they signed Yan Diomande for €135 million.
Current ETV
Nick Woltemade
F, M (C)
Juventus
Nick Woltemade
F, M (C)
Juventus
ETV Range
€47.4M - €58M
The numbers were huge this summer, particularly in England, but that offers no guarantee of value for money.
Woltemade is proof of this. Signed in a €75m deal by Newcastle from Stuttgart last summer, he was offloaded by the Magpies on loan to Juventus having scored a disappointing 11 goals in 53 matches.
Woltemade is symbolic: Why his move matters
The German was not the flop of the summer, but he is important for a symbolic reason: he was the only player 12 months ago to move for €40m or more above his worth.
When Newcastle snapped him up for €75m in a desperation move having lost Alexander Isak to Liverpool, they illustrated the dangers of overpaying for a player.
This summer, 11 players have completed transfers for €40m or more above their Estimated Transfer Values (ETV), highlighting the explosion in fees across the board in a single transfer window.
A year ago, there were only three summer deals when players moved for €20m or more.
Newcastle completed two of these deals, with Yoane Wissa joining Woltemade in this category. He was also a first-season flop. The other such deal was Mateo Retegui’s move from Atalanta to Saudi Pro League side Al-Qadsiah.
From an admittedly tiny sample size of two, the evidence is that paying an ETV-busting fee on a player in the Premier League does not end well.
| Player | Clubs | Fee (€m) | ETV (€m) | Overspend (€m) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Yan Diomande | RB Leipzig → Real Madrid | €125m | €51.8m | €73.2m |
| 2. Mateus Fernandes | West Ham → Spurs | €99m | €28.7m | €70.3m |
| 3. Elliot Anderson | Forest → Man City | €135m | €69.4m | €65.6m |
| 4. Morgan Rogers | Aston Villa → Chelsea | €137.3m | €73.4m | €63.9m |
| 5. Enzo Fernandez | Chelsea → Man City | €145m | €83.3m | €61.7m |
| 6. Ayyoub Bouaddi | Lille → Man City | €95m | €43.5m | €51.5m |
| 7. Bradley Barcola | PSG → Liverpool | €123.8m | €74.02m | €49.78m |
| 8. Sandro Tonali | Newcastle → Spurs | €108m | €59.9m | €48.1m |
| 9. Marco Palestra | Atalanta → Chelsea | €57m | €12.4m | €44.6m |
| 10. Savio | Man City → Spurs | €87.7m | €44.9m | €42.8m |
| 11. Goncalo Ramos | PSG → AC Milan | €74m | €31.8m | €42.2m |
Chelsea, Man City and Spurs are taking the same gamble
That is acutely important for the season ahead, when so many clubs have taken the bold decision to smash transfer barriers.
Man City have been culpable of making three such signings in Bouaddi, Fernandez and Anderson, while Tottenham have also completed the inauspicious hat-trick of such deals as they captured Savio, Sandro Tonali and Mateus Fernandes.
Chelsea, meanwhile, did it twice by signing Marco Palesta and Morgan Rogers, while Liverpool’s Bradley Barcola is the other Premier League move that falls into this category.
The odds are that not all of these players will flop, but after the Woltemade debacle at Newcastle, these clubs should be wary that their big investments will not guarantee big returns.
