'I'm ready' - Yoane Wissa breaks silence as Newcastle United injury return date set
Yoane Wissa injury: The Newcastle United striker is facing another month on the sidelines as he waits to make his debut.
Yoane Wissa is focusing on the positives as he waits to make his Newcastle United debut following his £55million deadline day transfer from Brentford.
The 29-year-old forward has been ruled out until late October due to a knee injury picked up while on international duty with DR Congo earlier this month.
If his recovery goes as expected, he may finally make his Newcastle debut almost two months after signing. Wissa has already been ruled out of Newcastle’s matches against Wolverhampton Wanderers, Barcelona, AFC Bournemouth, Bradford City, Arsenal, Union Saint-Gilloise and Nottingham Forest before the next international break.
When will Yoane Wissa make his NUFC debut?
The trip to Brighton & Hove Albion on October 18 has been suggested as a potential debut date for Wissa.
Newcastle head coach Eddie Howe said: “It is impactful and of course everyone wanted Yoane to be fit. There's nothing personally I would have done differently. 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.
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“We think he'll be out until the next international break. He's sort of got a race on to be fit for that Brighton game. Hopefully he can make it and then, of course, he'll be such an important player for us.
“Again, [playing for DR Congo] is not one I'm not in control of, so I've tried not to give it too much emotion. Of course we're devastated that he's injured, nothing in our control.
“We've just got to try to get him fit as quickly as possible in the safest way, and then he's got a big part to play in our season.”
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Yoane Wissa looking ahead to Newcastle United debut
Wissa’s first home match for Newcastle could come in the Champions League against Benfica on October 21.
Reflecting on his move and looking ahead to his Newcastle debut, Wissa said in the matchday programme: “It was a big part in moving here but I said to my family if I wanted to play Champions League football, I would go elsewhere but I wanted to stay in England.
“Newcastle came along with this project and I was thinking, even without the Champions League, I'd love to be a Newcastle player and play at St. James Park. I'm looking forward to making my debut.
“It's going to be a crazy feeling for me and my family and to play in the Champions League for the first time at the age of 29. It's another level and such a big stage of football so I'm very excited.”
Wissa scored 20 goals for Brentford in all competitions last season and joined Newcastle to help fill the goalscoring gap left by the departure of Alexander Isak to Liverpool.
Isak and Wissa both scored 19 non-penalty goals in the Premier League last season, a record bettered only by golden boot winner.
But Wissa’s injury comes after a disjointed pre-season and lack of any first-team football at club level since May. His two appearances in four days for DR Congo were his only taste of competitive action since the end of last season
When discussing getting up to full speed and fitness at Newcastle, Wissa added: “I haven’t played since my last Premier League game in May, and I didn’t have a busy pre-season.