West Ham are signing out-of-favour Newcastle forward Nick Woltemade on loan in the Championship – except of course they obviously are not.
If any story this window sums up how far football reporting has fallen in some quarters it is the claim, embarrassingly repeated by some outlets, that Newcastle’s Germany forward Nick Woltemade is set for the Hammers.
On the surface, a report claiming Woltemade has been made available for loan by Newcastle might be somewhat believable given the departures from St James’ over the last year and the German’s struggles in the second half of his debut season.
Woltemade to West Ham embarrassingly repeated
And West Ham, as seems to be the case in every single transfer window since the dawn of time, are on the hunt for a forward and creative midfielder.
But the desperation and lack of knowledge – or even common sense – that goes into some modern football reporting reached a new low with claims Woltemade will be dropping down to the Championship to sign for West Ham.
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And it all stemmed from a post on X from a David Ornstein parody account.
An account which, had the original author bothered to check, spelled the Athletic transfer guru’s surname with two e’s.
An account which, had the original author of Woltemade to West Ham bothered to check, stated in its bio that it is a parody account.
The “story” was gleefully hoovered up by German sites Bulinews and Bavarian Football Works, to name just two.
It was also repeated by some English outlets and spread quickly on social media.
They even quoted Ornstein as the source off the back of the parody account’s post.
Fake Ornstein account’s Woltemade claim lapped up in race to be first
Of course any Newcastle United or West Ham fan with even fleeting knowledge of their clubs knew immediately it was garbage.
The post, which used an Athletic story about Woltemade from May to help snare those too lazy to delve deeper, read: “EXCL: #WHUFC are current front runners for the signature of Nick Woltemade. #NUFC have informed the player he’s been loan listed with many clubs interested. Serie A and LaLiga clubs also interested #NUFC would want a loan fee along with a non-buy option.”
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If the two e’s in Ornstein did not give the game away, then the bio tried its best to help: “Parody account, not affiliated to David Ornstein, just a fan.”
Perhaps it is good something like this has happened to show football fans the value of proper football journalism and reporting.
Besides those very obvious red flags, how on earth could anyone believe 24-year-old Germany international Woltemade would drop down to the Championship to sign for the Hammers, a year after joining Newcastle in a £65m deal.
Basic football knowledge would have seen that story stopped dead in its tracks.
This is a sad indictment of the clamour to be first and fastest with transfer news nowadays instead of correct.
More fool those who fell for it.
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