Yoane Wissa is yet to make his Newcastle United debut, but whisper it quietly, he might not have to wait much longer…
On Monday we heard that DR Congo had agreed not to select the striker for AFCON (African Cup Of Nations).
This meant it wouldn’t be a case of Newcastle United finally getting Yoane Wissa fit and then losing him for up to five weeks in December and January.
To be fair, the World Cup is much more important for DR Congo and with them only needing to win one more match in March to qualify for the 2026 finals in Mexico, Canada and the US, having Yoane Wissa fully fit and ready through continued club form is certainly a much bigger priority.
As for Newcastle United fans, it was also great to hear on Monday that Eddie Howe also gave us an update on Yoane Wissa and the final steps on his route to becoming part of the NUFC matchday squads:
“Yoane took part in an 11v11 training match whilst we were at Everton.
“He’ll get another one this week and we’ll see how close he is.”
Well, we have now had another very encouraging update, this time via the media
Lucas Edwards of The Telegraph has now reported on Wednesday that its information is that Yoane Wissa has successfully come through another 11 v 11 match behind closed doors AND that there is a chance he will make the bench against Burnley on Saturday.
This would be a huge boost for Eddie Howe, the playing team, and of course for the fans of Newcastle United.
With Will Osula currently unavailable due to an ankle problem, this, alongside the continued absence of Yoane Wissa, has resulted in 18-year-old Sean Neave being benched as the only real cover for the striker in recent games.
It’s one of the busiest times of the season and from Saturday there will be a total of five games in a few weeks, starting with Burnley on December 6 and Chelsea on December 20.
Burnley (H) December 6, Bayer Leverkusen (A) December 10, Sunderland (A) December 14, Fulham (H) December 17, Chelsea (H) December 20, Man U December 26.
I know that as Newcastle United fans we have all felt sorry for Yoane Wissa’s unavailability in these early months of the season.
However, you also have to feel sorry for the player himself.
Yoane Wissa was desperate to join Newcastle United and even did a mini-Alexander Isak, not training with his Brentford teammates for a relatively short time (compared to Isak).
If Wissa were available, Eddie Howe’s options would increase significantly in how he could prepare his team for maximum goal threat, with the DR Congo able to play the role of sole striker, but also the mouth-watering prospect of how he could potentially link up with Nick Woltemade in the same team.
We hope we will experience that in the near future.
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