Newcastle United are yet to offer an extension to centre-forward Dwight Gayle with his existing deal running out this coming summer.
Now, various reports suggest that Gayle is frustrated with the lack of game-time at the club and would be happy to see out his contract and move to potential rivals or take a step back to a top-end Championship club.
He has scored 34 goals in 97 league games which look decent but only has 11 in 62 Premier League games. There’s an upturn in his form with four goals in eight starts over Project Restart including the winner vs West Brom in December. Still due to injuries and superb Wilson form (though he is now down with a potential injury as well) he can’t get a look in the side.
He’s highly rated by Steve Bruce often calling him as ‘Goal poacher’ and ‘how many times he tried to sign home’ but the reality is that Dwight Gayle barely featured under Bruce.
Dwight Gayle arrived at Newcastle in the summer of 2016, in a rumoured £12-million deal from Crystal Palace. He is a real poacher, has a striker’s instinct to be at the right place at the right time. He also is very clever with his movements and runs, also has a bit of pace (when compared to Joelinton).
Gayle has always been in the bracket of players who are too good for the championship but couldn’t make a cut in the Premier League. He is a hard worker but his overall holdup play was not rated by former manager Rafa Benitez, who sent him out on a loan stint at the then championship outfit West Brom (obviously he ripped the league apart with his 23 goals contribution in 32 apps) with Saloman Rondon coming the other way round.
Various premier league clubs such as Sheffield United, West Brom, and Burnley are drumming up interest in potentially signing Gayle on a free transfer. While a romantic move back to Crystal Palace has also been touted. Another possibility is of him moving out of the country with many Middle East outfits open to giving him a huge wage packet.
Newcastle view
It will be a real shame for the club to not be able to receive anything for such a prized asset. It’s just months ago that West Brom lodged multiple £15-million bids to prise him away from Tyneside after a successful loan spell out there.
The hierarchy remains undecided whether they should cash him on or not and the fact that Bruce likes him as a backup option to Wilson doesn’t make things easy for the board to move the player on. His career has been severely hindered by multiple injuries.
Gayle throughout his time proved in patches that how good a finisher he could be. He might have the last crack to make it big this time around with Wilson down injured for a good few months, Gayle should nail down his spot in starting XI for two major reasons (first is fans want to see more of Dwight and how potent he can be if given proper service upfront and the other is the Toons don’t want to see Joelinton, with what he has been doing since his Newcastle move).
I hope he does the job to push Bruce’s ship over the line and far from any potential relegation threat. If we give him a new contract (which is highly unlikely given his injury problems) then it’s a very smart move as he would prove to be an excellent backup option to Wilson which would suit the proactive approach we adopted lately. (Certainly better option than Carroll and Joelinton)
