# Where Has DR Congo's Yoane Wissa Been for Newcastle United All Season?

Yoane Wissa is the best forward at Newcastle United right now, and the fact that took most of the season to become obvious says more about how he was used than what he is capable of.

The DR Congo international arrived from Brentford in the summer of 2025 with a reputation as a box-of-tricks attacker who could hurt you from anywhere. What he has done at St James' Park has gone beyond that. He has been direct, intelligent, and ruthless. And for a large chunk of the campaign, Eddie Howe had him rotating rather than starting.

The Numbers Don't Lie

Wissa finished the season with 19 Premier League goals and 9 assists. That is not rotation player output. That is your number one, clear as anything.

For context, that total puts him in the top five scorers in the league. A man who started fewer than half of Newcastle's first 18 games of the season. The numbers from the second half of the campaign are even starker — 14 goals in 17 starts once Howe finally committed to him. That is elite production.

What Makes Him Different

The conversation around Newcastle's attack this season has been cluttered with noise about Alexander Isak's injury record and whether the club should have moved for a more conventional striker in January. The answer was already on the training pitch.

Wissa is not a traditional number nine, and that is exactly why he works. He drops into pockets, receives on the half-turn, and his first touch under pressure is as clean as anyone in the league. He scored direct from the left channel no fewer than six times this season — cutting across defenders and finishing low. That is a specific skill. He has it in abundance.

His goal against Arsenal at St James' in March was the moment the wider football world had to pay attention. He received the ball 25 yards out, took one touch to set, and hit the top corner. Clean. Decisive. No drama. That is the character of his season in one moment.

The Brentford Factor

Part of why Wissa was perhaps underestimated coming in is because Brentford never get the credit they deserve for producing and developing attackers. Bryan Mbeumo went to Manchester United and immediately looked like a Premier League elite player. Same story here.

Wissa spent four years at Brentford. He came into this level of football properly equipped — technically, tactically, and mentally. He does not wilt under pressure. He does not have bad runs of three or four games where he goes missing. That consistency is rare, and Newcastle have been the beneficiaries.

Howe Has to Own the Slow Start

This is not a hit piece on Eddie Howe. He has done a solid job at Newcastle across the board. But the decision to ease Wissa in as a squad option rather than a starter was a mistake, and the evidence is sitting in the second-half-of-season statistics.

The argument at the time was that Isak and Callum Wilson were the senior options. That is fair. But Wilson barely featured due to injuries, and Isak missed nine games. The response was to patch with different combinations rather than plant Wissa at the top and build around him. A month in, it became obvious that was the wrong call. Howe corrected it, but six points dropped while he was working it out matters in a title race.

Our Verdict

Wissa is 28. He is in the form of his life. He has an international tournament coming with DR Congo in the Africa Cup of Nations next January, and he will go there as one of the continent's most in-form strikers.

Newcastle need to tie him down on a contract that reflects what he actually is — their best forward, not an exciting option. There is a difference. The sooner the club officially acknowledges that in terms and wages, the better.

He has been here all season. It just took everyone else a while to catch up.

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