Newcastle United’s pursuit of Yoane Wissa was a tortuous sub-plot to the Alexander Isak saga but having finally decided to sanction a British record deal for their star striker, the Magpies found themselves all out of options.
Brentford sensed the panic. Plan B Jorgen Strand Larsen was off the table and Newcastle, flush with the Isak cash, needed a striker. So a club who had been adamant Wissa was not for sale came up with a number so high that it was almost impossible to refuse.
The terms Newcastle subsequently agreed have been described to The i Paper as “incredible” by a rival Premier League executive and it merits repeating after their January caution: £55m and a five-year contract for a player who was to turn 29 a couple of days later.
Newcastle’s interim decision-makers, holding the fort in the absence of either a director of football or chief executive, had to get sign-off from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) before the deal was done.
In a division where almost every club has switched focus and funds to young players with room to develop, it jars. It was the most spent on a player aged 28 or over since Manchester United signed Casemiro for £70m in 2022 and it contradicted Newcastle’s recruitment model, too.
Because of the long-term nature of his contract, it will also be baked into profitability and sustainability rules and squad cost ratio calculations until 2031.
Ultimately, lessons have been learned at St James’ Park. For the second summer in succession, they found themselves making imperfect decisions under pressure (selling Elliot Anderson and Yankuba Minteh in 2024 still hurts) and that run has to end. January’s mantra was “no panic” and while there was money to be spent, deals had to be right.
Sources tell The i Paper that PSR means Newcastle have to get better at player trading. To bring someone in you need to know what the exit route of others is, so those talking about revamping the striker options in the summer should recognise it would mean one of the three forwards they have leaving.
Given the money committed to Wissa and Nick Woltemade, surely it won’t be either of them. Not yet, anyway. But it does mean there is pressure on the DR Congo international to show more.
Wissa is certainly well-liked at Newcastle and is working hard on rediscovering his clinical edge, but those who know him believe he is nowhere near the version of the striker who scored 19 and 12 goals in successive top-flight campaigns yet.
He is paying the price for not heeding the advice of those close to him who told him to play on while transfer business was being sorted behind-the-scenes.
Instead, he initially refused to train and play, which meant he had no pre-season.
A serious injury suffered on international duty was desperately unlucky but sources speak of a sense of “what might have been” if he had done something similar to Antoine Semenyo and kept himself sharp. One believes it will be next season before we see the true version of Wissa, by which time he will be 30.
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For Eddie Howe, it is a strange situation. Perhaps unfairly the entire summer’s transfer work has been laid at his door by some critics but those familiar with him say it is “unfair and untrue” that he only wants to sign Premier League-proven players.
Newcastle are pivoting towards looking at new markets with his support and in the summer the big problem was the number of knockbacks they suffered. First-choice targets included Benjamin Sesko and Hugo Ekitike, who would have fit into his system perfectly.
Wissa ended up being the imperfect solution. Howe and Newcastle really need him to start repaying their faith.
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