The Northern Echo reported earlier this month that Dwight Gayle is set to sign a three-year contract with Newcastle United.
However, Newcastle are expected to either send the striker out on loan or sell him.
If the 30-year-old does, he’ll do so quietly through the back door – a striker who last season registered as being the club’s poorest performer (statistically at least).
He has failed to impress Steve Bruce as per his lack of game-time and, owing to his age, there is an outside chance that he may leave St James’ Park to new pastures (back to West Bromwich Albion is the destination mooted).
Within the context of the Ashley-Bruce era, it will be sad if the 31-year-old leaves. True, Gayle will not go down in history as one of Newcastle’s best ever striker, but the peculiar notion that his time so far has been disappointing could not be further from the truth.
Gayle has proved himself to be an outstanding player for Newcastle at times and was fundamental in helping them earn promotion back from the Championship when they so desperately needed it.
Before he arrived at the club, he was an unwanted man at Crystal Palace. They were about to sell Gayle to Bristol City but he rejected the move and soon he came to St James’ Park in the summer of 2016. It was a big ask at the time: to trade the Premier League for the Championship, but Gayle, speaking in an interview with the Chronicle said that there was no doubt, citing the club’s huge prestige as a factor of joining up.
He said: “For me, Newcastle is a massive club. To play for them is a great achievement, knowing their history, and when the likes of Rafa decided he was going to stay and be the manager, it became a no-brainer for me.”
At the time, Benitez considered other marquee signings, like Patrick Bamford, Lee Tomlin and Ross McCormack, but it was Gayle who finally got the nod and moved up north.
“When we were talking about him when I was looking to sign him, I was asking a couple of players about him,” Benitez explained.
“They both told me: ‘He’s a great finisher’. That’s the first thing that they said. Then I was obviously watching games and it was not easy to see too many because he was not playing too many games and also he was playing on the left side sometimes.”
Benitez was absolutely right: Gayle’s inaugural season with the Magpies in the Championship saw him net 23 times in 32 outings, making an astounding 3.7 shots per 90 minutes. It was actually a season marred by injury – he featured in less than half of the entire 53 games.
Even still, he came third that season in the Championship top-scorer charts and was top in the most goals from open play.
In subsequent seasons Gayle was in and out of the side, never being able to convince his managers that he could lead the line for Newcastle. West Brom took him on loan in the 2018-19 season, where he scored 24 league goals: there is the general idea that he was just a brilliant second-tier striker but did not have the ability to succeed in fashion in the top division.
If Gayle does end up leaving, fans will never forget just how much he gave the club during his time in the northeast, and he’ll forever be known as a phenomenal, if underappreciated, servant of Newcastle United.
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