By Ayobami Okerinde
Newcastle United legend, Alan Shearer, has criticised DR Congo forward Yohanne Wissa for featuring in international matches during the September break, urging him to show loyalty to his new club.
Wissa, who joined Newcastle from Brentford in a £55 million move, is yet to make his debut for the Magpies after sustaining a knee injury while on international duty last month.
The 29-year-old scored in both of DR Congo’s games against South Sudan and Senegal but picked up the injury in the latter encounter, which has kept him sidelined since.
However, even if his recovery goes according to plan, Newcastle are still expected to be without him for much of December and early January, as he will be on international duty at the AFCON finals.
Speaking to Betfair, Shearer questioned Wissa’s decision to play for his country, saying he should have exercised more caution after missing pre-season with Newcastle.
“It will be a really difficult decision for Wissa not to go to AFCON because you always want to represent your country.
“But what I would say is, because of him not training or playing during the summer, he could’ve shown more responsibility in not playing as much as he did in those two games when he went away on international duty and hadn’t played at all.
“But it’s really tough to say to someone they can’t and won’t represent their country when it means so much. And we know AFCON is huge and players want to play in that tournament.
“It’ll be a tough ask, but I understand that there’ll be a lot of people thinking that he’s never played for Newcastle and he needs to show some loyalty towards us.
“I get it and understand that point-of-view because Newcastle shelled out a lot of money on him and he hasn’t been able to take to the St James’ Park turf as yet. It’d be a really tough decision for him and Newcastle. Whether there’s a way around it, I’m not so sure.”
The post AFCON: ‘Show loyalty to Newcastle’ – Shearer faults Congo’s Wissa for playing during international duty appeared first on Vanguard News.
