Player yet to join full training; Magpies won’t focus solely on Haaland on Saturday
Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe says it is still not clear when Yoane Wissa will make his debut.
Wissa missed pre-season while pushing for a move from Brentford in the summer, and then suffered a knee injury while away with DR Congo in the first international break. He has been sidelined ever since.
Howe said the forward is progressing but is still not ready to rejoin full training.
“I have not got a clear, defined return date for you,” Howe said. “He’s working well. He’s not back training with us yet but he’s close. He’s working with the sports science team and almost entering a pre-season with them currently.
“He’s doing a lot of work, he’s looked good and looked better with every session. He’s close to training with us but until he gets there, it’s very difficult to give you a return date.”
Newcastle are also unsure whether Wissa will be available for the Africa Cup of Nations, which begins on 21 December. DR Congo are expected to name him in their preliminary squad, although it is still not clear if he’ll be fit enough to play.
Howe said he and his team would have to “wait and see” whether Wissa would be fit enough to take part in Afcon.
While it is still unclear when the DR Congo striker will feature for Newcastle, the Magpies will face another centre forward, one currently far more terrifying than Wissa, when they meet Manchester City on Saturday.
Howe said his team cannot afford to focus solely on Erling Haaland, even though the City striker is the most obvious threat.
“Manchester City have lots of threats from lots of different areas of their team so if you focus too much on one, I don’t think that’s right,” he said. “But of course, Haaland is an outstanding goalscorer and can score all different types of goals so we’re going to have to defend really well.
“There’s not one way of doing it. If you press high there’ll be weaknesses and if you drop low there will be weaknesses to that. You have to do what you think is right based on the players you have.”
