Very positive update on Yoane Wissa injury situation – Great news | OneFootball

Yoane Wissa should have been making his Newcastle United debut on Saturday, instead he was sitting watching on as Nick Woltemade scored an excellent headed winner and made all the headlines.

On Friday morning, Eddie Howe had revealed the bad news:

“Unfortunately he won’t make this game.  I saw him for the first time yesterday and he’s feeling the effects of the injury sustained just before he came off [while on international duty]. We’re going to have to see how he is.”

With Yoane Wissa booked in for scans on the knee injury, rumours circulated that it could even be an ACL injury that could keep the striker out for the entire season.

Which would be a real disaster, especially bad luck when you consider Yoane Wissa had only missed three Premier League games due to injury across the last three seasons.

However, great news following United’s win over Wolves, with widespread media reports from the likes of the Northern Echo, Mail and Chronicle, all reporting that the scans showed no major concerns and it is expected Yoane Wissa will mess the next four or five weeks of football.

Newcastle United also very careful with their handling of a player who hadn’t played any club football since May.

With such a busy schedule with six matches between 18 September and 5 October, it means Yoane Wissa is set to miss two Champions League games, three Premier League matches, plus the Carabao Cup game against Bradford.

With potentially a playing return on Saturday 18 October away at Brighton, if the estimates are proved correct.

A potential issue could be if DR Congo insist on trying to rush their star striker back, any sooner than that.

They have their final two World Cup group qualifiers in October and have to win both games to have any chance of finishing top of the group and qualifying automatically for the 2026 World Cup finals. After conceding a late winner for Senegal after Wissa was subbed, DR Congo went from definitely finishing top if they won their last two group games,, to now needing to win both AND hope Senegal mess up, as their is a two point gap.

I had seen no talk of it, but there would have been a club v country conflict anyway, as Newcastle are home to Forest on Sunday 5 October and DR Congo away to Togo on Monday 6 October (then home to Sudan on Monday 13 October). My reading of the rules is that it appears Newcastle wouldn’t have been obliged to release Wissa for that Togo match, so it would have been down to them whether they chose to do so, plus of course whether the player himself did.

I think after such a massive investment in Yoane Wissa and him having picked up such a worrying early injury, I don’t think it would be unreasonable if Newcastle United refuse any request from DR Congo to have the player head off for these October internationals. Especially if he has already missed six or seven Newcastle games through this injury.

As for Nick Woltemade, there were concerns from some fans when the Germany international was subbed off after 65 minutes on Saturday.

However, the striker himself made clear after the game that there was nothing to worry about:

“To be honest, I had cramp.

“It is my first game in the Premier League and I have to adapt to this league.

“I was already cramping a bit and so I said maybe it’s better if I go out now.

Nick Woltemade had started both World Cup qualifiers for Germany and so a third start, on top of all the travelling and the actual signing and adapting to a new country, new club and new training set-up. Maybe it would have been much more of a surprise if he had played the full match against Wolves. Plus of course so many matches coming up and United at the time leading against Wolves and just needing to see the game out, which they did without Nick Pope having to make any more saves.

Newcastle United fixtures confirmed dates and times (All of the Champions League matches will also be available to watch on TV in the UK):

Thursday 18th September: Newcastle United vs FC Barcelona (8pm)

Sunday 21 September – Bournemouth v Newcastle (2pm) Sky Sports

Wednesday 24 September – Newcastle v Bradford (7.45pm) Sky Sports+

Sunday 28 September– Newcastle v Arsenal (4.30pm) Sky Sports

Wednesday 1st October: Union SG vs Newcastle United (5:45pm)

Sunday 5 October– Newcastle v Forest (2pm) Sky Sports

Saturday 18 October – Brighton v Newcastle (3pm)

Tuesday 21st October: Newcastle United vs Benfica (8pm)