Why did Newcastle let Dwight Gayle go this summer?
While Salomon Rondon has done brilliantly since arriving from West Brom on loan, Newcastle are still lacking something different up front.
In the deal that saw Rondon arrive, Gayle went the other way to join the Baggies for the season. It was a real coup for West Brom, but Newcastle lost an important player in the process.
With the way Rafa Benitez wants to play, Rondon is perfect. He’s a strong target-man who can get his side up the pitch and hold up the ball. But if that isn’t working, what do we do? The main option on the bench is Joselu, who is just slightly worse at what Rondon does.
Newcastle need someone like Gayle in January
It’s good to have some variety, which is exactly what Newcastle’s attack doesn’t have. We have two strikers who are slow, but are decent with their backs to goal.
MORE NEWCASTLE STORIES
Ayoze Perez and Yoshinori Muto are different, but are usually deployed behind the striker. Muto has the pace that Gayle has, but is yet to be given a lengthy run as an out-and-out striker.
When January comes around, Benitez needs to look for another option going forward. We need pace. Gayle’s movement was great at times, running off the shoulder of the last man. More often than not he was found by Jonjo Shelvey, which was an alternative way of getting Newcastle up the pitch.
The current West Brom striker is a poacher, which is what Newcastle no longer have. He scored just six times last season, often missing glorious chances. However, the season before he bagged an astonishing 23 goals while in the Championship.
Letting the 29-year-old go this summer was necessary to bring in Rondon, but it has to be considered a mistake, as we’d be much stronger if we had both players right now.
When the transfer window opens, we need to address this and add some pace to our forward line.
