Yoane Wissa will not feature for Newcastle United until after the October international break following a knee injury picked up on international duty with DR Congo.
The £55 million summer signing from Brentford is still awaiting his debut after missing pre-season at his former club while pushing for a move to St James’ Park.
Wissa played both of Congo’s World Cup qualifiers earlier this month but returned injured, forcing Eddie Howe to hold him out before confirming a four-week timeline for his comeback.
“Everyone wanted Yoane to be fit. There’s nothing personally I would have done differently,” Howe said. “We did everything we did as a football club to try to look after Yoane. But it’s like with any footballer when they go away on international duty, you’re not in control of the minutes they play and unfortunately, he gets injured and now we just have to deal the best we can with that situation.”
Wissa has already missed the league match against Wolves and the Champions League defeat to Barcelona. The newcomer will also sit out upcoming matches against Bournemouth, Bradford (Carabao Cup), Arsenal, Union Saint-Gilloise (UCL) and Nottingham Forest.
Newcastle hope the 29-year-old could return for the Brighton fixture on October 18, though Howe admitted his involvement is not guaranteed.
“He’s sort of got a race on to be fit for that Brighton game,” Howe said. “Hopefully he can make it and then, of course, he’ll be such an important player for us.”
The injury delays Newcastle’s plan to integrate Wissa into the front line, signed for his Premier League scoring record and versatility across attacking roles, if not for his absolute rocky endurance having barely missed a game since arriving in England.
Wissa’s absence, however, comes with the positive of giving fellow new arrival Nick Woltemade more reps than he ever expected, as he will be forced into leading the forward line for the next few weeks.
