Yoane Wissa enjoyed a productive week in training before his latest Newcastle United snub, according to Craig Hope.
Just a day after Eddie Howe said that Wissa had looked good in training during his pre-match press conference, the former Brentford star was overlooked for Newcastle United’s latest defeat.
While not to pretend he is suddenly the player to turn things around for the club, the fact he remained on the bench for the whole game as Newcastle chased a goal against Bournemouth felt slightly at odds with what Howe said on Friday.
After Newcastle’s awful defeat to Bournemouth, Hope shared some more insight.
Hope heard that Wissa had impressed behind the scenes
The Daily Mail journalist revealed that he had heard some promising things about Wissa’s performances behind the scenes.
Hope said on YouTube: “I thought Wissa was worth a chance today. Heard some good things about him in training during the week, they had a practice match in which he played.”
That, coupled with Howe saying the DR Congo international had shown “the best of him in his time at Newcastle this week”, does make the situation somewhat strange.
While it is true that William Osula played well for Newcastle against Bournemouth, Howe later suggested it was Nick Woltemade was set to replace him before the Dane actually scored.
That, in theory at least, would still have left Wissa on the bench.
There’s little doubt that Wissa has proven to be a terrible signing for Newcastle and little about his performances even when he has started suggest he’d have come on and scored.
Still, if he cannot get into the team after what at least sounds like a strong week behind the scenes, then that really is a damning indictment on the signing as a whole.
Everyone knows he’s been a poor use of funds but this is perhaps the biggest example of it yet. Even after seemingly impressing, Wissa cannot get off the bench.
A mutual parting of ways this summer – if at all possible – would be the best possible outcome. What a mess this has all become.