Yoane Wissa is finally a genuine Newcastle United player.
Wissa made his debut for the club as Newcastle United beat Burnley 2-1 in the Premier League on Saturday.
The DR Congo international replaced Nick Woltemade for the final 15 minutes or so at St James’ Park and looked reasonably sharp.
Who was your MOTM vs Burnley?!
Hard to pick one!
While the 29-year-old didn’t score, he did link up with some of his teammates nicely.
Indeed, one of his very first touches was to try and tee up Jacob Ramsey in the box but the former Aston Villa midfielder’s touch let him down.
Clearly, a full judgement on Wissa cannot be made just yet.
Still, plenty of Toon fans online saw enough to get excited about.
Newcastle United fans impressed by Yoane Wissa’s debut
It’s worth remembering that Wissa hadn’t played a Premier League game in 195 days prior to taking to the field against the Clarets.
He did, however, go close with a late effort which flashed across the face of goal.
Though it would be foolish to get too excited just yet, Wissa’s debut 96 days after signing for the club went down well on social media platform X.
“Wissa looked sharp at times,” said one fan.
Another added: “Wissa looks sharp, Be very interested to see who becomes the starting 9 in a couple games.”
“Wissa looked very quick,” was another verdict.
“Like what I saw from Wissa, obviously rusty but he will come good 2nd half of the season,” predicted one supporter.
Another fan said: “Wissa had a very bright cameo.”
“Wissa’s movement is solid… I like where he is getting himself in the box,” added another supporter.
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Yoane Wissa’s debut for Newcastle United in numbers
Wissa had 10 touches in 16 minutes against Burnley. For context, Woltemade had 16 in 74 minutes of action.
Wissa completed seven of his eight passes, made one ball recovery and had two touches in Burnley’s box, while Woltemade only had one.
| Newcastle United vs Burnley statistics | Yoane Wissa |
| Minutes played | 16 |
| Touches | 10 |
| Touches in opposition box | 2 |
| Accurate passes | 7/8 |
| Aerial duels won | 1/1 |
That’s not a criticism of Woltemade, although that was undoubtedly his worst game in a while.
It does, however, perhaps suggest that Wissa is a more natural fit for the frontline.
Wissa has looked sharp in Newcastle training and he certainly replicated that on the pitch on Saturday.
It perhaps wasn’t the dream debut many would have hoped for but it’s clear that he can offer something that Woltemade can’t.