Yoane Wissa was about to realise a dream by moving to the Premier League.
But in July 2021, a month before he joined Brentford from Lorient, it very nearly turned into a living nightmare.
Wissa was attacked at his home, with acid thrown in his face. He could have lost his sight. It could have ended his career.
A woman was later convicted of the attack, and of attempting to kidnap his daughter, and was sentenced to 18 years in prison.
The trauma drove Wissa on.
That was clear when the then Lorient manager, Christophe Pelissier, visited the forward in hospital a day after the assault.
“Even though he was physically and mentally affected, Yoane quickly showed his determination to succeed,” he said.
“What struck me about him was his strong will and how he never gave up.”
‘His legacy has been soured’
Such determination has been a constant throughout Wissa’s career.
He was playing in front of crowds of fewer than 3,000 supporters away at Chambly in the French second division back in 2019.
Now he is in line to feature against Barcelona in the Champions League next week after completing a protracted £55m move from Brentford to Newcastle United.
His rise has not necessarily come as a shock to Pierre-Yves Hamel, who played alongside Wissa at Lorient.
“After the attack, he never complained,” he said. “He immediately wanted to move forward and to blossom today is a just reward for his efforts.
“Once Yoane has an idea in mind, he will do his utmost to make it happen – no matter how long it takes.”
Those words now carry added meaning.
Wissa was so set on joining Newcastle that he removed all association with Brentford from his Instagram account a few weeks ago.
In a statement last month, Wissa urged Brentford to “keep their word” to let him leave and accused the club of “unduly standing in my way”.
Parallels were drawn with another striker looking to leave their club – Wissa, like Alexander Isak, did not feature in any of his team’s opening three games of the season.
And just as Newcastle fans were upset with the manner in which Isak pushed to join Liverpool, following his own explosive social media post, Brentford supporters were dismayed with Wissa’s conduct as he looked to force a move through to St James’ Park.
Ian Westbrook, who is the Brentford fan writer with BBC Sport, stressed supporters are “not vindictive” towards those who “leave in the right way” because they know that their side “sell players to bigger clubs at the right time”.
The season-ticket holder suggested former players Bryan Mbeumo and Christian Norgaard and ex-manager Thomas Frank will all receive good receptions as a result when they return to Gtech Community Stadium following their summer moves.
But it will be different for Wissa.
“His legacy has been soured,” he said. “There’s not many players who have done this to Brentford.”
Newcastle’s shift in transfer policy
Wissa has since addressed the manner of his exit.
In an interview with Newcastle’s in-house media team, he insisted “it was always respectful with all of them so that’s why I kept myself fit, training, going to see the guys, being around every single day and just waiting for the right moment to move”.
And Phil Giles, Brentford’s director of football, made it clear that Wissa was an “infectious character” who he “liked a lot” while attempting to separate the forward’s four years at the club from the circumstances of his departure.
Newcastle certainly did their homework on Wissa.
Head coach Eddie Howe targeted players who were “desperate” to join the club, particularly after strikers Hugo Ekitike, Benjamin Sesko and Joao Pedro opted to move elsewhere, and the DR Congo international fitted the bill.
Newcastle, tellingly, returned to the table with a third and final bid on deadline day rather than moving on to an alternative.
It signified a rare shift in transfer policy. In fact, Newcastle had not signed an outfield player over the age of 25 since Howe’s first summer in charge in 2022.
Yet the 29-year-old appears to be a relative late bloomer rather than someone entering the twilight of his career.
Wissa’s year-on-year development has been such he went on to score more non-penalty goals (19) than any other player in the Premier League last season.
Wissa’s record in front of goal, his ability to plug in and his work off the ball made him an attractive proposition for Newcastle, who only had one player hit double figures last season.
That man was Isak.
It will now fall to Wissa, the club’s number nine, and record signing Nick Woltemade to help fill the void left by the Swede.
And Julien Laporte suggested there is more to come from his former Lorient team-mate.
“I’m proud to have played with someone like Yoane because he’s had a great career,” he added. “In my opinion, it’s not finished.”
