£55m summer signing is yet to make an appearance for his new club
Alan Shearer has criticised Yoane Wissa’s decision to represent DR Congo during the September international break, suggesting the forward should have prioritised his new club after joining Newcastle United from Brentford in the summer.
Wissa has yet to make his debut for the Magpies after suffering a knee injury while on international duty. The striker missed much of pre-season as he held out for a move to St James’ Park.
However, despite limited match fitness Wissa started both of DR Congo’s fixtures last month. He scored for his nation in a win over South Sudan as well as in a defeat to Senegal, but then returned to Tyneside injured.
His absence has frustrated Newcastle supporters eager to see their new forward in action, with his recovery now expected to extend into November.
Crucially, even if Wissa returns in November, he will have only a month before he has to join Dr Congo for the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon), set to take place from 21 December to 18 January.
That means the player will not have played for Newcastle as long as six months after they paid £55m for him.
As a result, some fans have even suggested that Wissa should skip Afcon.
“It will be a really difficult decision for Wissa not to go to Afcon because you always want to represent your country,” Shearer said.
“But what I would say is, because of him not training or playing during the summer, he could have shown more responsibility in not playing as much as he did in those two games when he went away on international duty and hadn’t played at all.
“But it’s really tough to say to someone they can’t and won’t represent their country when it means so much. And we know Afcon is huge and players want to play in that tournament.
“It’ll be a tough ask, but I understand that there’ll be a lot of people thinking that he’s never played for Newcastle and he needs to show some loyalty towards us.
“I get it and understand that point-of-view because Newcastle shelled out a lot of money on him and he hasn’t been able to take to the St James’ Park turf as yet.
“It’d be a really tough decision for him and Newcastle. Whether there’s a way around it, I’m not so sure.”
