Yoane Wissa of Newcastle United comes on for teammate Nick Woltemade to make his debut during the Premier League match between Newcastle United and Burnley at St James' Park on December 06, 2025 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)placeholder image
Yoane Wissa of Newcastle United comes on for teammate Nick Woltemade to make his debut during the Premier League match between Newcastle United and Burnley at St James' Park on December 06, 2025 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Nick Woltemade is ‘really excited’ about working alongside Yoane Wissa at Newcastle United.
Woltemade’s arrival from VfB Stuttgart for £65million saw Newcastle break their transfer record while the £55million arrival of Yoane Wissa on deadline day was supposed to soften the blow of losing Alexander Isak to Liverpool for £130million.
While Isak has struggled since leaving Newcastle, Wissa’s impact is yet to really be felt on the field as he was quickly ruled out for three months due to a knee injury picked up on international duty with DR Congo.
The 29-year-old came off the bench and replaced Woltemade to make his Newcastle debut in the closing stages of Saturday’s 2-1 win over Burnley at St James’ Park.
Wissa scored 19 Premier League goals for Brentford last season but hasn’t started a match at club level since May. Both the player and Newcastle have had to be patient due to his injury.
But now the forward is finally available, ready to compete with Woltemade and bolster Newcastle’s attacking options.
Though after a long spell on the sidelines and a disjointed summer, Newcastle are being cautious with Wissa.
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Positive Yoane Wissa fitness update
Speaking ahead of Newcastle’s match against Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League on Wednesday night, head coach Eddie Howe said on Wissa: “Yeah, he looks positive. I think his body language has been very good. He felt boosted by coming on the pitch and playing. As I said, he's probably earlier than we would have wanted, but I think he's ready to take on minutes. The challenge we have now is we're going to have limited training time in between games to continue to develop his fitness, so it's going to be a balancing act.
“We've got to try and get it right. But I think he showed in that 20 minutes his qualities and what he can bring, and I think we're going to get better.”
Nick Woltemade relishing playing with Yoane Wissa
In Wissa’s absence, Woltemade has made an impressive start to life at Newcastle with seven goals to his name. Approaching the midway point in the season, the German is Newcastle’s joint top scorer in all competitions along with Harvey Barnes.
But the hope is that Wissa will add even more goals to the side once he gets fully up to speed. After selling Isak for £130million, the hope is that Newcastle’s new-look £120million strike force can be a more than adaquate replacement for a player who scored 27 goals in all competitions last season.
“Yeah, really excited [to play with Wissa],” Woltemade admitted. “I think he's a really good player. He's a quality player. He's a player who can score goals, and he's also a nice guy.
“He brings really positive vibes on the team, because he's laughing a lot, he gives good energy, and I'm really excited. I think we also can play together, yeah. I'm really excited that he's back. He's a quality player, and that's what we need.”
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