Newcastle United forward Yoane Wissa will not be playing for DR Congo in the Africa Cup of Nations later this year.
Wissa is still recovering from the knee injury that has denied him the chance to play for Newcastle United since joining from Brentford in September.
Thankfully, Wissa could finally play for Newcastle in December after stepping up his return to full fitness.
Eddie Howe will no doubt love to have the 29-year-old back in action.
How many goals do you think Yoane Wissa will actually score for Newcastle United this season?
While Nick Woltemade continues to score goals, he hasn’t had much in the way of meaningful back-up all season.
The idea that Wissa could return to full fitness, make a few appearances, and then head to AFCON was a major worry amongst supporters.
Still, his omission from the DR Congo squad for the tournament in Morocco has now been confirmed and the forward has wished his international teammates well.
Yoane Wissa vows to be DR Congo’s number one supporter at AFCON
The Leopards confirmed their squad on Monday afternoon.
Wissa was the notable exception and while that will clearly be a blow for his country, it’s good news from a Newcastle perspective.
In 35 games for his country, the striker has scored eight goals.
Taking to his Instagram, Wissa posted a story of the squad list and captioned it: “I’ll be the number one supporter!! Big up to the family.”
How many games Yoane Wissa missed through injury during his entire Brentford career. How much of a difference could he have made?
Why Eddie Howe is keeping Yoane Wissa’s debut date for Newcastle United a secret
It feels increasingly like Newcastle’s £50million star will make his debut for the club soon.
However, the exact date of that remains unclear. This has been the worst injury of his career, so caution must be applied.
He cannot just be rushed back into action. Players who miss pre-season take a while to get up to speed, as Alexander Isak has shown at Liverpool.
Interestingly, Howe is keeping Wissa’s return date a secret because the Newcastle United manager doesn’t want to let people down should there be any further setbacks.
Speaking at his pre-match press conference on Friday ahead of Saturday’s win at Everton, Howe said: “We have got a date in mind but we will keep that to ourselves. I don’t want to disappoint anybody. We want to involve him as soon as possible, but we want him to be able to perform.”