Yoane Wissa deserves our sympathy…but not as much as poor Brentford fans

Is it possible to feel sorry for a Premier League footballer who earns upwards of £25,000 a week and has just enjoyed the best season of his career?

Well it turns out that it is entirely possible to feel sorry for such a Premier League footballer when he is Yoane Wissa and he has watched his club’s manager, the majority of the backroom staff, the goalkeeper, the best player and the captain leave all in one summer.

You could argue – and many of you undoubtedly will – that Wissa is well remunerated for his efforts so letting it be known via the media that he is ‘furious’ and ‘disappointed’ is unacceptable; there are always those who err on the side of thinking that footballers are well paid enough not to have any feelings at all.

But with the caveat that everything is relative, it’s fair to say that Wissa has had a stinker of a summer. He seems to believe that Brentford had given him assurances that he could leave – and having a contract that expires next year would usually grease those particular wheels – but clearly those assurances mean nothing when Brentford have been asset-stripped.

So here is Wissa, very soon to be 29 and accepting he has a limited shelf life in terms of elite football, knowing that Newcastle United are interested, knowing that Tottenham and Nottingham Forest were interested, and now being told that the exit door from Brentford is barred. Quite rightly, they have calculated that remaining in the Premier League is worth more than his £30m value.

And so the Congolese striker – who scored many more league goals than Benjamin Sesko or Ollie Watkins last season – is stuck at a club staring a relegation battle in the face under a rookie manager. Clubs like Brentford know they will eventually lose their best assets to bigger clubs, but it’s almost unprecedented to lose three key players and a manager in just a few weeks.

The loss of Mark Flekken has been more than compensated by the arrival of Caoimhin Kelleher, but a now-ancient Jordan Henderson can only point and shout better than the underrated Christian Norgaard, and nobody in that remaining Brentford squad is even a Bryan Mbeumo lite.

The greatest sympathy should be reserved for Brentford fans, who must feel discombobulated for the first time since they were promoted to the Premier League. The fact that was only four years ago but feels like a decade is a testament to the sterling work done by Thomas Frank and the recruitment team. It now all feels very precarious.

But that does not mean that we cannot spare some thought for the footballers left behind, and particularly for one clearly good enough to play at a higher level. In any other summer and in his contract situation, he might have been allowed to quietly leave with thanks and a wave. Now he faces the prospect of missing what might be his one chance to play Champions League football.

Let’s face it, Newcastle United are being forced to shop in a different market to most Champions League clubs and Wissa is an excellent candidate within that market. Next summer, when neither Newcastle or Spurs are likely to be preparing for another Champions League campaign, might well be too late for Wissa. And it’s unlikely that he will score another 19 Premier League goals next season.

Of course it’s not okay for him to refuse to train, or potentially refuse to play, but is it okay for him to be p***ed off? Well wouldn’t you be?