The Athletic’s Chris Waugh believes this will be Dwight Gayle’s last season at St James’ Park.
The striker has recently returned to Steve Bruce’s starting line up, but Waugh claims it’s ‘likely’ he is sold this summer – with it being the last chance we’ll get to recoup a decent fee given he is A) approaching his 30’s and B) about the enter the final 12 months of his current deal.
Not only that, The Athletic reveal that he’s currently earning above £50,000 per week, with the club only convincing him to join West Brom in 2018 by handing him a pay-rise.
When asked “will Dwight Gayle get a new deal or be sold in the summer?”, here’s what he said:
‘Whenever the summer window opens, Gayle will have less than a year left on his Newcastle contract and the club need to make a decision as to whether he is sold or given a new deal.
‘I very much suspect it will be the former, though, given that Gayle turns 30 in October and doubts persist about whether he is a top-flight quality striker or more of a Championship specialist.
‘His wages were increased beyond £50,000 a week in 2018 to convince him to join West Bromwich Albion on loan that season, so he is well remunerated.
‘Not only will Newcastle likely look to offload his salary but this summer may be their last opportunity to get a decent fee for a striker who is always in demand in the second tier.‘
Gayle is a useful player to have when fit – he works hard, has good movement and gets himself into good positions – but there’s serious concerns about his ability to product where and when it matters at Premier League level.
You could argue the likes of Yoshinori Muto need to be moved on this summer (whenever the window opens!) before Gayle, however it does seem likely that he earns a permanent move to a promotion chasing Championship side before long.
He could do a decent job for a newly promoted Premier League team with the right team around him, but he looks a totally different player in the top flight to the one we see score 20 goals+ a season in the second tier.
