Keith Andrews reveals Brentford 'plan' for Newcastle-linked Yoane Wissa as transfer deadline nears

The Bees boss explained at a press conference on Monday that, even though he won't select Wissa for this week's Carabao Cup tie against Bournemouth, the overall target is for the unsettled striker to be reintegrated into the Brentford squad after the transfer deadline on September 1. Andrews added that he would have a different opinion on the matter if he thought that wasn't possible.

Having seen former Brentford boss Thomas Frank and ex-strike partner Bryan Mbeumo move on to bigger things, Wissa has been hoping to join Newcastle, who can offer Champions League football.

A £40 million ($54m) Magpies offer has been rejected and Wissa was, for a period, training separately, while he deleted mentions of Brentford from his Instagram account. The DR Congo international has since returned to group sessions, but still isn't being selected for matches at this time. Andrews, fomerly an assistant coach at the west London club, recently suggested that Wissa "owes" him for the work they did together that pushed his Premier League goal tally last season to 19.

"He won't be involved [against Bournemouth in the Carabao Cup]. Again, it's just a decision based around what I feel is best for the group. The focus is on the group tomorrow. Yoane won't be involved," Andrew told reporters when the topic of Wissa's future was brought up.

"As far as I'm concerned, there's been no movement in any way and I fully expect Yoane to be here come next Tuesday [after the transfer deadline]. [Reintegration] is the plan. If I didn't think it would be, my stance on it would probably be different."

There is diminishing time for things to unfold. Brentford's valuation of Wissa is reported to fall between £50-60m ($68-81m), which means Newcastle remain far short. But an increase in their offer could in turn unlock the Alexander Isak transfer saga, with the Swedish striker refusing to play for the Magpies as he holds out for a move to Liverpool before next Monday.