Newcastle have had an improved £40m bid for Yoane Wissa rejected by Brentford as they seek to reinforce Eddie Howe’s attack amid uncertainty regarding the future of Alexander Isak.
As Isak trains separately from his Newcastle teammates in an attempt to force a move to Liverpool, Wissa missed Brentford’s 3-1 defeat at Nottingham Forest last weekend as he, in turn, attempted to push through a transfer to St James’ Park. Newcastle insist Isak will not be allowed to leave the club this summer. Wissa’s potential arrival could yet alter that narrative.
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Despite suggestions from within St James’ Park that Wissa is seen primarily as a replacement for Callum Wilson following the latter’s move to West Ham earlier this summer, it is striking how much the 28-year-old’s Premier League scoring statistics from last season mirror those of Isak. While Wissa scored 19 goals in 35 appearances for Brentford, all from open play, Isak managed 23 goals in 34 appearances, with four of those resulting from penalties.
Although Wissa, who turns 29 next month, has only one year remaining on his contract, Brentford are reluctant to lose him after seeing their manager, Thomas Frank, depart for Tottenham, their captain, Christian Nørgaard, head to Arsenal, and Bryan Mbeumo, Wissa’s strike partner at the Gtech Community Stadium, leave for Manchester United this summer.
Newcastle’s initial £25m offer for the DR Congo forward was rejected but it was widely expected they would return. Their latest offer, submitted within hours of Isak’s incendiary Instagram post in which he claimed Newcastle had broken promises and breached his trust, is believed to be an initial £35m with a further £5m in add-ons. Brentford did not wait long to tell Newcastle it also fell short of their valuation for Wissa, which is believed to be between £50m and £60m.
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They could well sell should Newcastle make another improved offer given the player’s attempts to leave, which have included deleting all Brentford references from his social media accounts. The west London club have also added the forward Dango Ouattara to their ranks, increasing Newcastle’s confidence of a deal being done in the coming days.Any agreement is unlikely to come in time for Howe to field Wissa in Monday night’s hotly anticipated Premier League meeting with Liverpool at St James’ Park.