For all the talk around Anthony Gordon leading the line ahead of Nick Woltemade last night, one man who will have been gutted to miss out is Yoane Wissa.
The DR Congo star picked up an injury on international duty last week, seeing him immediately miss games against Wolves and Barcelona since completing a £55m move from Brentford on deadline day.
Fears of a serious ACL injury have been played down, although there is no doubt he has been missed, with his pace, movement in behind and finishing ability something that could’ve hurt Barcelona’s high line.
Speaking to the media after last night’s game, Eddie Howe insists his injury is nothing to do with the club and a huge source of frustration, as he is facing a “race” to be fit for our trip to Brighton on October 18th; the first match back after the next international break.
“It is impactful and, of course, everyone wanted Yoane to be fit. There’s nothing personally I would have done differently. We did everything 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 (October 18). Hopefully he can make it and then, of course, he’ll be such an important player for us.”
Howe admitted to being “devastated” to lose his new striker for 4-5 weeks just days after his arrival, with the club now working to get him back ASAP without taking any risks:
“Devastated he’s injured. Nothing in control. We’ve just got to get him fit as quick as possible in the safest way, then he’s got a big role to play.”
The boss also warned that he should not be going away with DR Congo next month, feeling that would be too soon given he’s already facing a race against time to make our trip to Brighton a week later:
“I don’t expect him to go away. I don’t think he’ll be fit enough to do that, by that point (after Nottingham Forest on 5th October).”
Quite simply, Wissa’s injury is unlucky and bad timing, especially when you consider his superb fitness record in recent years and our busy run of fixtures just as he’s got injured.
As things stand, Wissa looks set to miss the following games:
Sunday 21th September – Bournemouth vs Newcastle (2pm – Sky Sports) Premier League
Wednesday 24th September – Newcastle vs Bradford (7.45pm – Sky Sports+) Carabao Cup
Sunday 28th September – Newcastle vs Arsenal (4.30pm – Sky Sports) Premier League
Wednesday 1st October – Union SG vs Newcastle United (5.45pm – TNT Sports) Champions League
Sunday 5th October– Newcastle v Nottingham Forest (2pm – Sky Sports) Premier League
FYI, Article is missing the list at the bottom with the fixtures that Yohan will miss.
Fingers crossed he comes back soon, isn’t taken on international duty again & he settles in nicely.
Alex Nowis(Quote)
Can’t imagine DRC give a toss about nufc. They want their team to be ready for afcon and wc so sadly wissa will be away in oct
GR(Quote)