United signed the forward for £50m from the Bees in the final hours of the summer transfer window
Newcastle United striker Yoane Wissa
Newcastle United No 9 Yoane Wissa(Image: Newcastle United via Getty Images)
Yoane Wissa's £50m transfer to Newcastle United was ultimately the right decision for Brentford, according to the Bees' director of football Phil Giles.
The Magpies finally got their man late on deadline day after a summer-long pursuit of the striker, as United completed their business with their sixth first-team signing of the window.
Wissa made his wish to join Newcastle clear, and as was the case with the Alexander Isak saga, had not played for Brentford so far this season.
However, Wissa felt the Bees had moved the goalposts when it came to transfer agreements, although dialogue between the two parties remained respectful.
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Giles has no ill-feeling towards Wissa, who he describes as an 'infectious character' but insisted they had to do what was right by the club - and that meant selling when the price was right.
“It’s been an interesting last few days and in fact, an interesting last few weeks,” Giles said. “The big story is selling Yoane Wissa. He was a fantastic player for us, started off playing wide and evolved to take on the No 9 position and had a brilliant season last year.
“He was a really good, infectious character who was positive around the players and the fans. I personally liked him a lot as well, so there’s nothing but positive things to say about his performances on the pitch for us.
“Transfers are always complicated. There’s always a little bit of emotion, friction and dialogue. That normally stays in house but obviously this one spilled out. It’s not the only one this summer that has spilled out a little bit more into the public domain which is, from my point of view, not ideal.
“Nevertheless, it happened and we had to manage that. For me, fundamentally, when you have to make a decision about transfers, and complicated decisions - decisions which are impactful on the pitch and also off the pitch in terms of the club’s whole overall position - you need to stay focused on what is the right decision for the club, not whether it’s in public or not in public.
“You have got to take the emotions out of it and got to ultimately make the decisions for the club. Every decision I make or we make collectively during a transfer window will strip all of the emotion out of it and focus purely on what is the right decision in this moment in time for the club overall."
Like the Isak situation at Newcastle, Brentford have had to manage Wissa's request carefully, and while Giles would have prefered to have kept some details private, he doesn't feel it was particularly out of the ordinary.
"To some extent, it’s been no more difficult than many other transfer windows personally," he added.
“It maybe just slipped out publicly a little bit more this time than normal, so people got a bit more insight into how things tend to play out.
“All transfer windows are quite complicated. We’re dealing with human beings at the end of the day who have their own career, life, opportunities and dreams to follow, but then against that a pretty hard contractual position which needs to be respected.
“My focus is always on that it has to be the right decision for the club first and foremost before we take any decision.”
Wissa could make his Newcastle debut a week on Saturday (September 13) when Wolverhampton Wanderers come to St James' Park for the first Premier League game after the international break.