Major Yoane Wissa update forces Newcastle United and £55m man to consider injury return date
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Newcastle United injury news: Yoane Wissa injury latest and estimated return date as DR Congo update adds new layer.
Yoane Wissa and Newcastle United face a major decision next month. Wissa is yet to feature for the Magpies following his £55m deadline day move from Brentford.
The striker suffered a knee injury whilst playing for DR Congo during September’s international break. Those matches, against South Sudan and Senegal, were the first games Wissa had played since the end of the 2024/25 season having missed the majority of pre-season training with Brentford as he tried to force a move to St James’ Park.
Wissa’s return to action for his country saw him net in both of those matches last month, but he left the second of those games having picked up a knee injury. Further medical tests upon his return to Tyneside revealed that he would be out of action for at least a month, before Eddie Howe then revealed that he didn’t expect Wissa to make his club debut until November at the earliest.
That updated timeline suggested that Wissa faces around another three weeks on the sidelines. Coincidentally, his first action as a Magpies player could come against his former side Brentford on Sunday 9 November at the Gtech Community Stadium.
That match against the Bees marks the last game Newcastle United will play before the third international break of the season gets underway. There will be no Premier League action on the weekend of 15 and 16 November as the final international break of 2025 takes centre stage.
Yoane Wissa injury return date - decision ahead for Newcastle United?
That international break could be significant for a number of countries around the world as qualification for the 2026 World Cup begins to wrap up. DR Congo are one of those nations that will enter the November international break with World Cup qualification on the line.
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DR Congo finished second in their qualification group behind Senegal, with that 3-2 win for Senegal over DR Congo in September playing a pivotal role in how the group stage concluded. As one of the four best runners-up in the African World Cup qualifying groups, DR Congo will now have a play-off game against Cameroon to play during the November international break.
If they win that match, then they will take part in a final against the winner of the game between Gabon and Nigeria. The winner of that eventual final will then qualify for the Interconfederation play-offs that will take place in March 2026.
Those play-offs will involve one African team, one South American team, one Asian team, one Oceanic team and two teams from North America for the final spots in the 2026 World Cup. DR Congo have never played at a World Cup - although Zaire did qualify for the 1974 World Cup.
For Wissa, having the opportunity to help them qualify and then representing his nation at a World Cup is a potentially once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. However, because he is yet to feature for Newcastle United, and may play just once before those play-off matches next month, there will be a major decision to make on whether he is deemed fit enough to feature for his country next month.