BAYERN Munich chief Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has blasted Newcastle as “idiots” for outbidding the German champions to land striker Nick Woltemade.
Munich thought they were set to seal a deal for the giant Stuttgart front-man before Toon bosses gazumped them with a £65m deal as they found a replacement for Alexander Isak.
The transfer for the 6ft 6in Germany star left Munich reeling.
Woltemade, 23, has begun repaying that investment with two towering headers including the opener in Sunday’s 2-1 home defeat by Arsenal.
But sore loser and Germany legend Rummenigge, 70, is refusing to let the matter lie.
Rummenigge said: “I can only congratulate the people in Stuttgart for finding – let me use quotation marks here – ‘an idiot’ who paid that much money, because we certainly wouldn’t have done that in Munich.”
He added: “You also have to have an authentic opinion on things.
“Because that’s the only way you can be credibly acknowledged, both internally and externally.
“I’ll be honest: when this story with Woltemade and then the demand from Stuttgart came up, I, as well as Uli, Herbert Hainer, Jan Dreesen, and Max Eberl, our board, said: ‘Folks, we’re slowly getting to a level that I simply don’t find acceptable anymore’.
“We shouldn’t fulfill every demand to make someone happy – especially the financiers at Stuttgart.”
Newcastle will be unruffled by the sour grapes from Bavaria – even if Rummenigge struck a different note about another summer transfer target Bayern missed out on.
Bayern were ready to meet Leverkusen’s initial £100m asking price for schemer Florian Wirtz, who also ended up in the Prem, at Liverpool.
Wirtz has made a low-key start to life at Anfield but Rummenigge said: “We’re actually a little sorry about Florian because he’s a great player and I think he would have been a perfect fit for us.”
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