Jurgen Klopp has omitted Newcastle's club record signing from his latest Germany squad

Nick Woltemade's nightmare 2026 plumbed to new depths on Thursday morning after Jurgen Klopp omitted Newcastle United's club record signing from his latest Germany squad.

Klopp named a bumper 44-man squad for his first four matches in charge across the September and October international break, which he split into two separate squads for the first two games and the second two games.

But he has cut that down to a 24-man squad for their UEFA Nations League matches against Serbia and the Netherlands later this month and Woltemade is among the host of names who have failed to make the cut.

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It is the latest blow in what has been a bruising year for the 24-year-old with Newcastle deciding he could leave the club on loan, just a year on from his club record £69million move from Stuttgart, after he struggled on Tyneside.

After a solid start to life at St James' Park, Woltemade's form in front of goal nosedived at the start of this year and Eddie Howe decided he was better served as a midfielder or a No 10 as he looked for a solution.

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Despite Howe being succeeded by Matthias Jaissle in the summer, Woltemade failed to convince Jaissle he was suited to his system, too, and he was shipped out on loan to Juventus.

Woltemade was named Juventus' October MVP earlier this week, largely for his performances in the Europa League where he became just the third Juve player in history to score in his first three European matches for the club, but is yet to score in eight Serie A appearances.

And after missing an absolute sitter for his country in last month's win over Serbia, he has not done enough to convince Klopp to keep him in his squad, with Arsenal's Kai Havertz, Eintracht Frankfurt's Younes Ebnoutalib and Werder Bremen's Niklas Fullkrug being preferred instead.

Speaking about the players he has axed from his squad, Klopp said: "We'd be crazy if we closed the doors to players who aren't part of it. We make decisions at the highest level – even if not everyone sees it that way (laughs). We need to work on being perceived as a top team again. We have a lot of talent and potential. And now we're working to make that visible."

However, Newcastle United defender Malick Thiaw has been named in the Germany squad, despite not featuring in any of the Magpies' last three matches after losing his place in the side to Fabian Schar.

Thiaw earned plaudits for his two performances for Die Mannschaft last month alongside Borussia Dortmund defender Waldemar Anton and the pair will compete with Dortmund's Nico Schlotterbeck and Bayern Munich's Jonathan Tah for game-time over the next couple of weeks.

Germany squad to face Serbia and Netherlands

Goalkeepers: Alexander Nübel (Besiktas), Marc-André ter Stegen (Ajax), Jonas Urbig (FC Bayern)

Defenders: Waldemar Anton (Dortmund), Nathaniel Brown (FC Bayern), Finn Jeltsch (Stuttgart), Maximilian Mittelstädt (Stuttgart), Nico Schlotterbeck (Dortmund), Jonathan Tah (FC Bayern), Malick Thiaw (Newcastle), Philipp Treu (Freiburg)

Midfielders: Tom Bischof (FC Bayern), Said El Mala (FC Köln), Brajan Gruda (RB Leipzig), Lennart Karl (FC Bayern), Joshua Kimmich (FC Bayern), Wael Mohya (Gladbach), Felix Nmecha (Dortmund), Aleksandar Pavlovic (FC Bayern), Derry Scherhant (Freiburg), Florian Wirtz (Liverpool)

Strikers: Younes Ebnoutalib (Eintracht Frankfurt), Niklas Füllkrug (Werder Bremen), Kai Havertz (Arsenal)