The summer transfer window might be over, but Newcastle United technical director Ross Wilson is still hard at work as he plans to carve out new strategies for Matthias Jaissle.
Newcastle have somehow emerged from the market in good nick, despite selling Anthony Gordon and Sandro Tonali and captain Bruno Guimaraes. Despite Eddie Howe’s decision to quit at the end of July. Despite failure in so many different lunges at top transfer targets.
Four points from two opening Premier League matches against Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur have remained the Toon persuasion of what makes this club so special.
Signings have been made, with Matias Fernandez-Pardo arriving on deadline day in a £51m deal. Club record man Nick Woltemade might have left for Juventus on loan, but Yoane Wissa is showing that he can step up and prove the proverbial new signing for the Magpies this term.
Why Yoane Wissa is like a new signing for Newcastle
Wissa did not enjoy a happy maiden year on Tyneside. After forcing his way out of Brentford, the Congolese striker suffered an injury while playing for his country, before he had kicked a ball for Newcastle in a competitive setting.
He joined Howe’s side for £50m plus add-ons, so to have flattered to deceive across the season must have been infuriating for Howe, who made mistakes, but who was undoubtedly dealt a horrid hand after climbing to the top, venturing into the Champions League twice and winning the Carabao Cup at Wembley.
|
Yoane Wissa’s Premier League Career |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Season |
Apps |
Goals |
|
26/27 |
2 |
1 + 1 |
|
25/26 |
19 |
1 + 1 |
|
£50m transfer from Brentford to Newcastle |
||
|
24/25 |
35 |
19 + 4 |
|
23/24 |
34 |
12 + 3 |
|
22/23 |
38 |
7 + 3 |
|
21/22 |
30 |
7 + 1 |
Two games into the Jaissle era, Wissa has matched his output from his dreary first year on Tyneside. He looks fitter, faster, more ferocious. More at home at St. James’ Park.
Fernandez-Pardo will challenge the 30-year-old for a starting berth at No. 9, but Wissa will fancy his chances of resisting the young Belgian, who is not quite an out-and-out centre-forward.
However, he may struggle to keep Newcastle’s top transfer target for 2027 at bay.
How Newcastle can upgrade on Wissa in 2027
Woltemade has joined Juventus on loan, with no obligation to buy. Even so, it feels like the German’s days at Newcastle are over, and that signing a new striker will be on the agenda next summer.
Perhaps it already is. According to Football Insider, Newcastle are already working toward signing Bayer Leverkusen striker Christian Kofane, having been linked with the 20-year-old this summer, pushing for a deal in the build-up to deadline day, but failing – alongside Aston Villa – to break past Leverkusen’s armour.
However, both Premier League sides are determined to return for the Cameroonian prospect next summer, but they will surely be dissuaded by the Bundesliga side’s £87m price tag.
His agent, Eric Depolo, claims that he’s “a £100m player“. He’s not far off. Last season, Kofane scored five goals and supplied four assists across 29 games, only starting 12 times. That doesn’t tell the full story, though, with Kofane’s natural technicality and progressiveness on the ball (he completed 58% of his dribbles last year) emphasising his potential as a dynamic marksman for a team such as Newcastle.
The 2026/27 season is young, but Kofane has already made his presence known after just one substitute appearance, scoring off the bench as Die Roten lost their season opener 3-2 to newly-promoted Elversberg. Perhaps he should have started.
He can score and he can create. There is a lot to like about this one, and though Wissa is making progress after a tough first year on Tyneside, he is 30 years old, and will need competition. Kofane can provide that, described as “one of the most exciting strikers in the world” by talent scout Jacek Kulig
There is more to Kofane’s game, and he will only go from strength to strength over the next several years.
Newcastle are going to need to find themselves a long-term talisman to spearhead the Jaissle era, and while Wissa can provide immediate support, and Fernandez-Pardo has versatile qualities that could see him become a mainstay in black and white, Kofane has the quality to establish himself as the focal point of the attack.
Last season, Wissa failed to fulfil his duties as the Alexander Isak replacement at Newcastle. He could put things to rights over the coming year, but Newcastle’s focus on signing a striker next year, with the 2026 transfer window still warm, says it all.
