Newcastle United already have major Yoane Wissa problem to deal with after £55m transfer move
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Newcastle United news: Yoane Wissa’s £55m move to St James’ Park was confirmed on deadline day.
Newcastle United finally secured the signing of Yoane Wissa from Brentford on deadline day. After weeks of chasing his signature, the Magpies finally made a breakthrough in negotiations with the Bees on Monday morning.
Wissa, who was keen to make the move to St James’ Park, drove to the north east overnight to be ready to complete a medical if and when the two clubs were able to agree a fee for him. The Magpies will pay £55m for his services and add him to a transformed strikeforce alongside former Stuttgart striker Nick Woltemade.
Whilst £55m is a steep fee for a player who will turn 29 before he kicks a ball for his new club, the sales of Alexander Isak and Callum Wilson necessitated additions in attack and the final hours of the transfer window are no place to be penny pinching.
Newcastle United’s Yoane Wissa ‘problem’
It is hoped that Wissa can add firepower to Newcastle United’s attack and, with 19 Premier League goals last season, is someone that can come into the team and hit the ground running. Only five players scored more than him last season, with just Chris Wood and Erling Haaland of those players still playing for the same club as they did last campaign.
Despite not having a full pre-season under his belt, Wissa will need to score goals from the off this season. Newcastle United have registered just two goals in their last five Premier League matches, stretching back to last season, with both of those goals coming in the same game.
Their profligacy up-front is a big reason why they currently sit on just two points from their first three games in a record that simply must be improved on - starting with the visit of Wolves on Saturday 13 September. Winning points is not the only reason why Wissa must hit the ground running though.
If all goes to plan for the 28-year-old on the international front, then Wissa will represent his nation, DR Congo, in the African Cup of Nations this winter. However, that means he will likely miss a clutch of games for his club.
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The AFCON group stages begin on December 21, with DR Congo’s competition starting two days later against Benin. Wissa, therefore, will almost certainly miss Newcastle United’s game against Chelsea on the weekend of December 20 and then their trips to Manchester United and Burnley following Christmas.
A run all the way to the final could see Wissa miss Premier League matches against Crystal Palace and Wolves in January, plus whoever they are drawn against in the Third Round of the FA Cup and a potential Carabao Cup semi-final first-leg if the Magpies progress that far in defence of the trophy they won in March. In all, Wissa is almost guaranteed to miss three Premier League games and could miss seven matches in total for his club - putting a lot of strain on Woltemade and any other makeshift back-ups to get the Magpies through a notoriously difficult festive period of fixtures - a period that completely transformed their campaign last season.