Such determination has been a constant throughout Wissa’s career.
He was playing in front of crowds of fewer than 3,000 supporters away at Chambly in the French second division back in 2019.
Now he in line to feature against Barcelona in the Champions League next week after completing a protracted £55m move from Brentford to Newcastle United.
His rise has not necessarily come as a shock to Pierre-Yves Hamel, who played alongside Wissa at Lorient.
“After the attack, he never complained,” he said. “He immediately wanted to move forward and to blossom today is a just reward for his efforts.
“Once Yoane has an idea in mind, he will do his utmost to make it happen – no matter how long it takes.”
Those words now carry added meaning.
Wissa was so set on joining Newcastle that he removed all association with Brentford from his Instagram account a few weeks ago.
In a statement last month, Wissa urged Brentford to “keep their word” to let him leave and accused the club of “unduly standing in my way”.
Parallels were drawn with another striker looking to leave their club – Wissa, like Alexander Isak, did not feature in any of his team’s opening three games of the season.
And just as Newcastle fans were upset with the manner in which Isak pushed to join Liverpool, following his own explosive social media post, Brentford supporters were dismayed with Wissa’s conduct as he looked to force a move through to St James’ Park.
Ian Westbrook, who is the Brentford fan writer with BBC Sport, stressed supporters are “not vindictive” towards those who “leave in the right way” because they know that their side “sell players to bigger clubs at the right time”.
The season-ticket holder suggested former players Bryan Mbeumo and Christian Norgaard and ex-manager Thomas Frank will all receive good receptions as a result when they return to Gtech Community Stadium following their summer moves.
But it will be different for Wissa.
“His legacy has been soured,” he said. “There’s not many players who have done this to Brentford.”
