Newcastle remain in talks with Brentford over a deal for Yoane Wissa, but the player’s desire to force a move escalated on Monday when he deleted all trace of his association with the club from his social-media account.
The 28-year-old did not play for the Bees in their opening-weekend 3-1 defeat at Nottingham Forest and has been training away from the first-team squad.
Wissa believes that, 12 months ago, the club agreed he could move on this summer, and he expects them to honour that promise.
But Brentford are said to be holding out for a fee higher than what Newcastle are prepared to pay, leaving the deal in doubt. They want at least £50m after rejecting an opening offer of £30million and want to sign another forward.
Sources close to the situation are still confident of progress, and the Magpies have waited for three weeks for Brentford to find a replacement. They have since brought in Dango Ouattara from Bournemouth but that has not resulted in movement on Wissa, as was hoped.
The DR Congo forward has now removed all photographs of him training and playing for the club from his Instagram account, as well as leaving his profile picture all black.
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Brentford striker Yoane Wissa has stepped up his efforts to force a move away from the Bees
The 28-year-old has unfollowed the club on Instagram, removed all club pictures and turned his profile picture to black
If the the deal does not happen, it would have a knock-on effect on Alexander Isak’s hopes of joining Liverpool, with the Swede currently on strike and training away from his team-mates.
Newcastle will not sanction that move without signing two strikers, and so far they have failed to add any this summer. They have missed out on Liam Delap, Joao Pedro, Hugo Ekitike and Benjamin Sesko, but their search continues.
The preference would be to keep Isak and for him to return to the squad, but the club have been working to the eventuality of him going all summer, evidenced by their attempts to sign his replacement. Wissa has been seen as a replacement for Callum Wilson, who left the club in June.
But the longer they go without adding any players in the centre-forward position, the more chance there is of him staying on Tyneside beyond the transfer window.
