How Yoane Wissa reacted after sealing his move to Newcastle United - Craig Hope
Yoane Wissa is the £55 million Newcastle United striker that almost never was.
After waiting for much of the summer to finally get his move from Brentford, the new Newcastle No. 9 almost missed out on his dream move after an oversight with the paperwork.
As reported this morning, Wissa had missed a signature on his paperwork, which was only rectified with less than 30 seconds before the 9pm deadline to get the paperwork filed.
Craig Hope has provided more detail on the mishap in his Newcastle Confidential column for the Daily Mail, adding a nice bit of creative flair to the events.
Fair play to Craig Hope for the opening of his latest Newcastle Confidential column
We don't normally like to directly rip off another person's work, but we just can't beat how Craig Hope has written this section.
"Shortly before 9pm on deadline day, Yoane Wissa stepped onto the terrace overlooking the training pitches at Newcastle United’s training ground. Under the early-autumn moonlight, he called his wife and children and they celebrated the sun rising on a new dawn.
"But then, from inside the building, came screams and the sound of doors crashing open. ‘Yoane! Yoane! Yoane!’ howled a desperate echo through the corridors of the training centre.
There was still one more document he had to sign. It was 8.58pm. The extended deadline for submitting paperwork to the Premier League was 9pm. For Wissa, time stood still - he was a Brentford player.
"The document was on a mobile phone. He scratched his signature on the screen. His representative, who had ‘sprinted for his life’ to find the striker, quickly explained the gravity of the situation. Meanwhile, the club’s administrative team uploaded the document and sent it to the Premier League.
"Wissa was ‘nearly in tears’. His lawyer, representatives and club staff were, it is said, ‘f***ing nervous!’ Hearts raced and limbs trembled. Brentford chiefs, in west London, were just as panicked - they wanted their £50million.
"At 8.59, the email was sent. At 8.59, the automated response of the Premier League recorded it as received. Yoane Wissa was a Newcastle player. ‘He celebrated like he’d won the Champions League!’ said one of those present."
Yoane Wissa wanted the move to Newcastle to play Champions League football
He may not have won the Champions League, but Wissa will be competing in that competition this season now that he is officially a Newcastle United player.
Wissa knew that this was likely his last chance to move to a team playing Champions League football, as the striker turns 29 today and his opportunities for big moves will start diminishing now that he's pushing that 30 mark.
We keep making a big deal of his age, but players are playing top-level football well into their 30s these days, so it's really not that big of a deal. Although his age will always be used as a point when discussing just how much we overpaid for him, we had to do what we had to do.
