Yoane Wissa spotted back at Newcastle United training ground as injury return date set
Yoane Wissa is closing in on making his long-awaited debut for Newcastle United following an injury blow.
Yoane Wissa is set to make his Newcastle United debut next month, almost seven weeks after his £55million deadline day arrival from Brentford.
Wissa joined The Magpies after scoring 20 goals for Brentford last season. The last-minute deadline day arrival was confirmed before Wissa left Newcastle to join up with the DR Congo squad for the September international break.
Despite not featuring in pre-season for Brentford or playing any matches, friendly or competitive, since May, Wissa started two matches in four days for DR Congo. Newcastle’s new No. 9 scored twice and grabbed an assist before being forced off with a knee injury in the 3-2 defeat to Senegal.
That injury has subsequently ruled him out until after the next international break with the trip to Brighton & Hove Albion on October 18 pencilled in as a potential return date for the forward.
Eddie Howe on Yoane Wissa injury
Newcastle head coach Eddie Howe said earlier this month: “It is impactful and of course everyone wanted Yoane to be fit,” Howe said. “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.
“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 at NUFC training ground pushing for return
As Wissa closes in on a return to fitness, he will be blocked from joining up with the DR Congo squad during the October international break as Newcastle look to have him fit and available for the Brighton match.
Since signing for Newcastle at the start of the month, Wissa has not been pictured in training or at any Newcastle matches. But the 29-year-old has been in and around the Newcastle training ground and St James’ Park in recent weeks.
Wissa recently took to social media to post an image of Newcastle’s Champions League match against Barcelona from the stands.
The Newcastle forward was also pictured at the training ground in official Newcastle Adidas training gear in an image shared by his friend Nabil Khali.
Khali, who plays for Moldovan side Milsami Orhei, wrote: “May Allah reward you brother, thank you.”
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When discussing getting up to full speed and fitness at Newcastle, Wissa said in Newcastle’s official matchday programme: “I haven’t played since my last Premier League game in May, and I didn’t have a busy pre-season.