The Democratic Republic of Congo on Monday omitted forward Yoane Wissa from their 26-man squad for the Africa Cup of Nations, with the forward having been out of action since October.
Wissa, 29, suffered a knee injury on international duty and has yet to feature for Newcastle since his move from Brentford at the start of the Premier League season.
But he has returned to training, and on Monday, Newcastle manager Eddie Howe said: "Yoane participated in an 11 v 11 training game while we were at Everton. He'll have another one at some stage this week and we'll see how close he is (to returning to action).”
However, DR Congo coach Sebastien Desabre has left Wissa out of the squad for this month's tournament in Morocco.
Instead, he has kept faith with the squad that won last month’s World Cup African playoff to earn a spot in the inter-confederation playoffs in Mexico in March, where DR Congo will face either New Caledonia or Jamaica for a place at the World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the US.
Desabre has included former Belgium junior internationals Michel-Ange Balikwisha, goalkeeper Matthieu Epolo and Mario Stroeykens, who were all called up for the first time last month.
On his debut, Balikwisha converted a penalty in the shootout as they edged Nigeria in Morocco to win the African World Cup qualifying playoff.
The Congolese compete in Group D and play their first game against Benin in Rabat on December 23. They also have Botswana and Senegal in their section.
DR Congo Squad
Goalkeepers: Matthieu Epolo (Standard Liege), Timothy Fayulu (Noah), Lionel Mpasi (Le Havre)
Defenders: Rocky Bushiri (Hibernian), Gedeon Kalulu (Aris Limassol), Steve Kapuadi (Legia Warsaw), Joris Kayembe (Genk), Arthur Masuaku (Sunderland), Chancel Mbemba (Marseille), Axel Tuanzebe (Burnley), Aaron Wan-Bissaka (West Ham)
Midfielders: Theo Bongonda (Spartak Moscow), Michel-Ange Balikwisha (Celtic), Brian Cipenga (Castellon), Edo Kayembe (Watford), Nathanael Mbuku (Montpellier), Samuel Moutoussamy (Atromitos), Ngal'ayel Mukau (Lille), Charles Pickel (Espanyol), Noah Sadiki (Sunderland), Mario Stroeykens (Anderlecht)
Forwards: Cedric Bakambu (Real Betis), Simon Banza (Al Jazira), Samuel Essende (Augsburg), Meshack Elia (Alanyaspor), Fiston Mayele (Pyramids)
