Eddie Howe Admits Yoane Wissa Must Wait Longer For Newcastle Debut Due To Injuries

‎Newcastle United striker, Yoane Wissa, will be out for at least four more weeks after sustaining a knee injury while on international duty with DR Congo, manager Eddie Howe confirmed on Friday.

‎The club signed Wissa for £55 million ($74.26 million) after a lengthy transfer battle with Brentford. He was brought in to replace Alexander Isak, who left for Liverpool earlier this summer.

‎He now faces a race against time to return for Newcastle’s October 18 fixture away to Brighton.

‎”Everyone wanted Yoane to be fit,” Howe told reporters ahead of Sunday’s game at fourth-placed Bournemouth.

‎”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 with the best we can with that situation.

‎”We think he’ll be out until after 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.”

‎Wissa’s absence puts added responsibility on Newcastle’s other big signing, German forward Nick Woltemade, who joined from Stuttgart in a club-record £69 million deal.

‎The 23-year-old made an immediate impact by scoring on his debut in the 1-0 Premier League win over Wolverhampton Wanderers. Despite the bright start, manager Eddie Howe stressed that Woltemade still needs time to adapt to the pace and demands of English football.

‎His performances will now be even more crucial as Newcastle navigate Wissa’s injury setback.

‎”We’re going to have to look after Nick. It’s hard enough for him to come into a new league, and you could see the physical effects he felt with Wolves and then the quick turnaround again here (in a 2-1 Champions League loss to Barcelona),” Howe added.

‎”There’s no guarantee, even by managing him, that he’s going to stay fit and play all the games, but we’re going to try to give him the best chance to stay fit and also acclimatise to the league that he’s in.

‎”But he’s made a very good start. He did well when he came on (against Barca), I was really pleased with him. He was involved in the goal, so he’ll hopefully be in a good place.”