‘Newcastle staff at training ground’ share unanimous reaction to Yoane Wissa latest
Yoane Wissa is on track to make his Newcastle debut against Sunderland next month as he nears the final stages of his recovery from injury.
Yoane Wissa has not enjoyed a good start to life as a Newcastle player so far, as he is still yet to kick a ball for the club due to a serious posterior cruciate ligament injury.
Newcastle sign Wissa from Brentford on deadline day as his own long saga eventually ended with a big-money move to the Tyneside club.
Wissa suffered his injury on international duty for DR Congo against Senegal in September, before he had even made his Magpies bow, and he was ruled out by Eddie Howe for around six weeks as a result.
He is still yet to feature for Newcastle after numerous setbacks in his recovery, but a new update has now emerged on his progress and when fans can expect to see him play for the first time.
Wissa has trained with teammates for the first time and could debut against Sunderland next month
Previous reports indicated that Wissa was set to make the bench against Everton when they face off with Newcastle on 29 November.
That is not set to be the case now, but the Daily Mail has revealed that the 29-year-old took part in a training session on Wednesday (26 November), and the sight of him on the grass with the team has been met with huge relief inside the training ground due to the amount of setbacks he has suffered.
His current training programme is believed to be similar to what a player would go through during pre-season.
While the upcoming trip to Everton is too soon for Wissa, the report states that he could be involved for their Wear-Tyne derby clash against Sunderland on December 14 if the next few weeks go to plan.
Howe provides Wissa update ahead of Everton
Wissa is unlikely to go to the African Cup of Nations with DR Congo due to his injury issues, and the Magpies will be wanting him to be back fit as soon as possible so they can finally see returns on their investment.
Howe needs him fit and firing as soon as he is in contention to play, considering he has had to thrust Anthony Gordon into the striker position amid a lack of real senior back-up to Nick Woltemade.
The Magpies boss provided a fresh update on Wissa ahead of his side’s game at Everton this weekend on Friday (28 November), saying: “Yoane is doing well. He trained with his for the first time on Wednesday.
“I was really pleased that it is his first time competitively. We will see how it looks.
“We have one (a comeback) date in mind, but it is probably best to keep it to ourselves.”
That date looks set to be one of the biggest on the Premier League calendar this season, as Newcastle head to arch-rivals Sunderland on 14 December for their first league clash in nine years.