Shearer (L) has asked Wissa (R) to miss the AFCON
Newcastle United legend, Alan Shearer has urged new signing Yoane Wissa to consider skipping the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations to prioritise his club duties after a frustrating start to life at St James’ Park.
The DR Congo forward, who joined Newcastle from Brentford in a £50 million deal, is yet to play a competitive match for the Magpies.
After missing most of pre-season while trying to force his move, Wissa headed off for international duty in September 2025, just days after completing his transfer.
He made an immediate impact for his country, scoring against both South Sudan and Senegal, but suffered a knee injury in the latter game that has sidelined him ever since.
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Newcastle boss Eddie Howe recently confirmed that Wissa is not expected to return until early November.
Even if his recovery goes smoothly, the 29-year-old is still expected to miss a chunk of December and January while representing DR Congo at AFCON in Morocco, a situation Shearer believes Wissa should rethink.
“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 over the summer, he could have 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,” Shearer told Betfair.
The former England captain went on to acknowledge the dilemma Wissa now faces between personal ambition and club loyalty.
“It’ll be a tough ask but I understand that there’ll be a lot of people thinking he’s never played for Newcastle and he needs to show some loyalty towards us. I get it because Newcastle shelled out a lot of money on him. Whether there’s a way around it, I’m not so sure,” he added.
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Meanwhile, watch highlights of Ghana’s 1-0 win over Comoros in the World Cup qualifiers
