The 100% Nick Woltemade stat that shows why he must start for Newcastle vs Nottingham Forest

Eddie Howe should start Nick Woltemade against Nottingham Forest after the Newcastle United striker reinforced his desire to stay at the club beyond this summer.

Woltemade’s strong start to life on Tyneside feels a long time ago as he continues to struggle for game time towards the end of the season.

The German international striker has not scored since mid-February and last started a Premier League match in March against rivals Sunderland.

He has been linked with a departure this summer, but a new report has claimed that Woltemade has no plans to leave Newcastle and is committed to helping the club improve under Howe.

Newcastle’s next match sees them travel to the East Midlands to face Forest, and Woltemade deserves a chance to prove himself in attack before the season is out.

Nick Woltemade should start against Forest as Newcastle stay looms

Woltemade has often played as an attacking midfielder over the last six months, with Anthony Gordon and Will Osula given more minutes at centre-forward.

He netted from the spot in the reverse fixture against Forest back in October, though, and produced a fine all-round performance while he was still in form at the start of the campaign.

The Chronicle‘s latest report states that Woltemade remains keen to win his place back at Newcastle and is not set to seek a summer exit.

They are instead more likely to cut their losses on Yoane Wissa, and so now Howe must start to prove that Woltemade has a future on Tyneside by handing him a start up front on Sunday.

He has already shown that he can perform against Forest, and while Osula has scored a few recently, it makes sense to rotate with the Magpies now unlikely to achieve European qualification.

What have Howe and Woltemade said about the striker’s future?

Sources have revealed to Football Insider that Newcastle want to avoid a loss on Woltemade after signing him for £71million, which is likely why they are not planning to let him leave.

Howe was asked about his chances of more minutes last week, as he said: “He’s training well. I think again he’s benefiting from the bigger sessions with 20 players that we’ve missed throughout the season and now we’re beginning to work with him on the things we feel like we needed to earlier in the season but didn’t have the opportunity to.

“I thought his pass for Yoane was sublime against Arsenal. It was great to see those two link together and looked like it could be a potential partnership for us.”

Woltemade has admitted that claims of him struggling at Newcastle “bother” him, and now feels like the time for Howe to trust him again and give him a chance to shine before the campaign ends.

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