There’s a huge hole to fill up front at Newcastle United. New signing Yoane Wissa has a big job on his hands, but his goalscoring exploits for Brentford suggest he could be up to the challenge.
Yoane Wissa has finally got his way.
After weeks of digging his heels in at Brentford, on transfer deadline day he was granted the move to Newcastle United he so wanted.
If reports are to be believed, it has cost Newcastle around £55 million to get their man, a fee far greater than many expected the 28-year-old, who had just one year left on his Brentford contract, to command. But there is nevertheless good reason to believe it could prove a worthwhile deal for Eddie Howe.
For one, Newcastle had cash to burn after caving and agreeing to sell Alexander Isak to Liverpool for a British record fee. Secondly, and most importantly, they have a huge goal deficit to make up after Isak’s departure.
They have already signed Nick Woltemade from Stuttgart, but the 23-year-old, while clearly very talented, has only ever scored 14 top-flight goals, and there is far more to his game than providing goal threat, not least in how much he likes to drop deep to get on the ball.
There’s no guarantee he can carry the burden of replacing Isak’s goals in the Premier League straight away. There’s every chance he’ll take a few months – or even a whole season – to get up to speed in England.
Wissa’s New Partner
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4 days ago Ryan BensonSo, in Wissa, Newcastle have brought in a Premier League-ready centre-forward whose main job is threatening goal. That’s not to say it’s his only strength, but it is something he does exceptionally well.
In the Premier League last season, only Mohamed Salah scored more non-penalty goals (20) than Wissa (19), while only Erling Haaland generated a higher non-penalty xG total (18.9) than him (18.6). On a per-90 basis, too, only Haaland was ahead of Wissa, with 0.60 non-penalty xG to Wissa’s 0.57.
In other words, he was a consistent and effective threat. One of the best in the top flight, in fact. And all while playing for the 10th-best team in the division – if you go by Brentford’s final league position.
A look at where he had shots from last season shows just how threatening he was and how often he got on the end of balls into the box extremely close to goal.
That is something Isak did quite well for Newcastle, too, though he outscored his xG to a greater degree than Wissa, largely because he has a long-range screamer in him. He scored three goals from outside the box last season, whereas Wissa didn’t score a single one.
Newcastle scored a lot of goals last season through Jacob Murphy haring down the right flank and putting a low ball across goal for Isak to tap in. Murphy assisted Isak more times (seven) than any other player combination in the Premier League last season. Among those assists, look at how many of them were from balls across the face of goal.
Wissa is no stranger to building a fruitful relationship with a specific player, either. He and Bryan Mbeumo established one of the most effective attacking partnerships the Premier League has seen in recent years.
Last term, only two other Premier League duos created more chances for one another than the 29 he and Mbeumo created (Cole Palmer and Noni Madueke – 35, Dominik Szoboszlai and Mohamed Salah – 33).
Meanwhile, only two other combinations (Isak and Murphy, and Morgan Rogers and Ollie Watkins) managed more assists for one another (seven each) than Mbeumo and Wissa (six).
So, while at least to begin with, he provides an alternative option to Woltemade and one who is ready to go at this level, they could also feasibly play together, too.
Stuttgart often played in a version of a 4-4-2, with Woltemade up front alongside Ermedin Demirovic or Deniz Undav, and he showed he dovetails extremely effectively with a strike partner. The German likes to take on more of the creative responsibility, dropping deep and looking for the ball to feet – yes, even at 6-foot-6, he isn’t a target man – helping to make space further up the pitch for a more penalty-box-focused forward to exploit.
Given Wissa’s success when combining with a more creative partner (Mbeumo topped the Premier League last season for expected assists, with 9.3), there is potential for this partnership to work, too.
Wissa isn’t just the kind of forward who will hang around on the shoulder of the last defender, though. He is a technical footballer, and likes to get on the ball as well. He isn’t at the level of Isak in that he can’t dribble his way through a defence like the Swede can, but he is still far more than just a penalty-box poacher.
Among strikers in the Premier League last season, only two recorded more carries (moving at least five metres with the ball) than Wissa (244), and interestingly, one of them was Isak (268). The other was João Pedro (273) for those interested.
Only those two and Liam Delap recorded more progressive carries (moving at least five metres with the ball towards the opposition’s goal) than Wissa (119), while only Delap (26) recorded more carries followed by a shot than the former Brentford man (24). Only Erling Haaland (6) followed up a carry with a goal more times than Wissa (3).
Although Wissa is primarily concerned with finishing off chances, there is more to his game than that. Clearly, he is also capable – like Isak, although not as well as Isak – of creating chances for himself.
He leaves Brentford a club legend, having become their leading Premier League scorer, with 45 goals, which is three more than Mbeumo (42) and nine more than Ivan Toney (36). Now, having been handed the number nine shirt at St James’ Park, he has the chance to make a name for himself at one of the Premier League’s most famous and biggest clubs.
There was never any chance of Newcastle replacing Isak this summer, but Wissa is a decent option for giving it a good go.
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