Wissa transferred to Newcastle from Brentford three months ago for a transfer fee of £55 million ($73.40 million), but he sustained a knee injury shortly after during international duty and has yet to play for the club.

"He is getting closer. On Wednesday, we arranged an 11 versus 11 match mainly for him. That went well, giving him more playing time—about 30 minutes—and he performed well," Howe told reporters ahead of Newcastle's upcoming home Premier League match against Burnley.

"We will assess how he feels today. He has looked good and handled everything so far. I always say in these cases that we have another training session today, and we must decide if he is not only fit but ready to make an impact and perform at his best,"

Once Wissa resumes playing, Newcastle won’t have to worry about him leaving for the Africa Cup of Nations, as the 29-year-old was not selected for his national team’s squad.

Wissa announced the DR Congo squad selection on his personal Instagram this week, accompanied by the message "I’ll be the number one supporter! Much love to the family."

Newcastle remain unbeaten at home in the Premier League since August and will be eager to recover from conceding a late equalizer against Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday.

That draw meant they have dropped 11 points from winning positions this season in the league, the joint highest amount.

"I don’t believe there’s any hidden reason behind that. We constantly analyze patterns and trends, and I don’t think there’s anything fundamentally wrong, but we can definitely improve," Howe, whose team is currently 12th, stated.

Howe expressed confidence that Sandro Tonali will be fit to play despite leaving the field injured against Tottenham.

"He has had a scan and the injury doesn’t seem serious. We’ll give him every opportunity to prove his fitness," the manager said. "It was a similar knock to what Joelinton experienced, a dead leg sensation. We’ll monitor how he feels today."