Must read - Yoane Wissa gets emotional talking about Newcastle United
Summer signing Yoane Wissa had to wait 14 weeks to make his Newcastle United debut.
Yoane Wissa has called Newcastle United his “family” after making a long-awaited bow against Burnley.
One of the most eagerly-awaited debuts in Toon memory saw the 29-year-old given the final 16 minutes of Newcastle’s 2-1 triumph. Wissa’s arrival was met with a raucous applause by the St James’ Park faithful who have been desperate to see their new No.9 in action.
Newcastle stumped up a hefty £55million to sign the former Brentford striker on deadline day. Alongside Nick Woltemade, Wissa is tasked with filling the void left by Alexander Isak but, without kicking a ball for the Magpies, soon suffered a knee injury on international duty.
‘Dreaming all summer’ - Yoane Wissa
Wissa waited 14 weeks to pull on the black-and-white stripes and, speaking to reporters post-match, admitted he dreamed about the moment all summer. He said: "It has been a long wait for me, for the fans and for my family. It is something I have been dreaming of all summer and, when it happened (his debut), you feel like you are living the dream.
"So I am quite happy for that reception, which gave me goosebumps when I came on. It was a long wait. But in the end, we got there.”
Newcastle United family
In an emotional statement, the forward also called those within the club his “family” for helping him through the setback. Wissa added: “It has been frustrating (being injured). It was more frustrating at the end than at the beginning.
"At the start you know you can't do anything. But when you are almost back, that is the moment where you get frustrated. You look at this team and the people at the club… they have been like family to me.
"I had to watch the team from the stand. Every few days, I would visualise myself on the pitch and imagine helping the team in the best way I can. Today was not about me, we won and that is the most important thing.
“Now we are just looking forward to the next game. For the last 11 weeks, they have helped me. The first four weeks were strange because I was new to the place. But in the end I am happy to be ready."
Eddie Howe on Yoane Wissa
On Wissa’s debut, Eddie Howe said: “Yeah, really important. I think he's done a lot of work to get to this point. He's got a lot more work to do to get to the very best level that he can. Yeah, very pleased to have him available.
“We hope to keep him available by managing correctly. It's difficult with the spell of games that we have to sort of train him and build his fitness with all the game schedule, so it's going to be a really delicate balance for us, but hopefully we can find a solution to it.”