The 2025 Africa Cup of Nations will take place in Morocco between December 21st 2025 and January 18th 2026 in what is one of the biggest football tournaments on Earth. Many Premier League sides will lose players heading to the competition, including Newcastle’s Wissa.
The 29-year-old is yet to make his debut for The Magpies after missing the bulk of pre-season and then suffering a knee injury on international duty with DR Congo back in September.
Despite joining from Brentford last month, Wissa hasn't yet trained with Newcastle, and many are worried that he may not make his debut for months to come. Now, with AFCON just a few months away, Shearer has called for Wissa to show some loyalty to Newcastle.
"It will be a really difficult decision for Wissa not to go to AFCON because you always want to represent your country," Shearer told Betfair.
"But what I would say is, because of him not training or playing during the summer, he could've 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 that he's never played for Newcastle, and he needs to show some loyalty towards us.
“It'd be a really tough decision for him and Newcastle. Whether there's a way around it, I'm not so sure."
Reportedly earning £140,000 per week, Newcastle paid £55million for Wissa's services from Brentford as the club look to claim compensation. However, missing AFCON is Wissa’s choice and representing his country may be more important than staying with Newcastle.