OPINION
It seems that Matt Ritchie may be on his way out of Newcastle United this summer after it was reported that Stoke are willing to offer him huge wages to swap St James’ Park for the Bet365 Stadium this summer.
The Sun has reported that the Potters want to sign Ritchie for £15million and are also offering him a stunning £77,000-a-week deal that would more than likely make him one of the top earns in the Championship.
And now that this huge wage offer has come to light, it will surely mean that Dwight Gayle will also want to quit Newcastle and head to Stoke.
According to statistics website Spotrac, Ritchie earns £45,000-a-week on his current deal at St James’ Park and Gayle earns £40,000-a-week on his.
Even though they are Premier League players and are managed by one of Europe’s finest managers, money talks, and that sort of money that is being offered up by Stoke is ridiculous in comparison to what they are earning at Newcastle.
What is more likely to make ex-Crystal Palace forward Gayle want to leave is that the Daily Mail has already credited the Staffordshire club with interest in signing him this summer.
It was understood that the Potters had offered £10million for the 27-year-old centre-forward, which must have fallen on deaf ears at St James’ as there has been no kind of development that has seen him edge towards an exit.
If Stoke are this desperate to get themselves back into the Premier League, then Rafa Benitez can soon expect to hear from Gayle after seeing how much his team-mate could be about to earn.