Premier League 2025-26 review: season flops highlighted by Yoane Wissa's failed Newcastle move
Quick summary
A Guardian season-review piece highlights major Premier League disappointments, focusing on Yoane Wissa's underwhelming first season at Newcastle after his £55m move from Brentford. Newcastle finished 12th and missed out on Europe, with their attacking recruitment widely judged to have failed.
Full article
Attributed to original sourceFrom Wissa’s solitary goal for Newcastle to Postecoglou’s brief reign at Forest, it’s been a campaign to forget for some
Newcastle’s year-long chase to sign Yoane Wissa from Brentford felt like it would never end until they paid £55m for his services in September. The Democratic Republic of the Congo forward arrived after banging in 19 goals for Brentford last season and was supposed to lead the charge for Eddie Howe in the Premier League and Europe. In reality it has been a whimpering experience. Admittedly, none of Newcastle’s attacking recruitment paid off; Wissa sat on the bench alongside £65m Nick Woltemade and £55m Anthony Elanga in the April defeat away to Crystal Palace where the manager preferred to start Jacob Murphy and Will Osula. Wissa has scored once in 13 league appearances, starting only four times because he does not fit into the system and has not built the level of rapport he had with Bryan Mbeumo. The team as a whole has struggled, finishing 12th, a drop of seven places from last season, meaning they will not be returning to Europe. With Anthony Gordon expected to depart in the coming months, having faith in the reinvestment is not a given.
Continue reading...
Source attribution: this article content is based on the linked publisher feed/source. Chance adds independent soccer context, impact analysis, entity links, and related news.
What happened
The article is a retrospective review of Premier League 2025-26 disappointments and uses Yoane Wissa's move to Newcastle as a key example. Signed for £55m after scoring 19 league goals for Brentford the previous season, Wissa managed only one goal in 13 league appearances and started just four matches. The piece says he has struggled to fit Eddie Howe's system, while other attacking signings also failed to deliver. Newcastle ended the season 12th, seven places lower than the year before, and will not return to European competition.
Chance analysis
In football terms, this matters because it points to a structural attacking-recruitment problem at Newcastle rather than a single player's poor form. A forward failing to fit the manager's system, combined with broader underperformance in the final third and the possible exit of Anthony Gordon, raises concerns about chance creation, squad planning, and near-term attacking reliability.
The likely effect is a negative near-term signal on Newcastle's attacking outlook and on Yoane Wissa's role security going forward.
Treat this as evidence of Newcastle attacking dysfunction and poor player-system fit rather than an isolated finishing slump.