ALAN SHEARER is urging Yoane Wissa to consider skipping the Africa Cup of Nations.
The DR Congo forward, 29, has yet to kick a competitive ball for Newcastle so far.
Despite missing most of pre-season while attempting to force his Brentford exit, the star still headed off for international duty in September — days after moving to St James’ Park for £50million.
Wissa scored against both South Sudan and Senegal but picked up a knee injury in the latter which has sidelined him since.
Newcastle boss Eddie Howe revealed a fortnight ago his anticipated return is now not expected to be until the start of next month.
However, even if everything goes to plan regarding his recovery, Toon are still set to be without him for the majority of December and early January due to the Afcon finals.
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But Newcastle’s all-time top scorer has suggested that the new No 9 puts his new employers first ahead of the showpiece in Morocco.
Shearer told Betfair: “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.
“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 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.
“He hasn’t been able to take to the St James’ Park turf as yet.
“It would be a really tough decision for him and for Newcastle.
“Whether there’s a way around it, I’m not so sure.”
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