Newcastle United manager Rafael Benitez doesn’t want Dwight Gayle to leave the club, according to trusted journalist Chris Waugh.
According to reliable Chronicle journalist Chris Waugh via his official Twitter account, Benitez ideally wants to keep Gayle at the club to increase competition between their strikers but is instead set for a move to West Brom.
The Gayle-Rondon swap deal makes sense for all parties – just frustrating it's dragged on for so long. Ideally Rafa would have liked to have kept Gayle & then had more competition, & the fact Rondon isn't permanent once again raises questions about #nufc's lack of summer spend
— Chris Waugh (@ChrisDHWaugh) August 6, 2018
As reported by Express & Star journalist Paul Suart on his official Twitter account, a swap deal between Newcastle’s Gayle and West Brom striker Salomon Rondon is expected to go through today.
Looks very much like the Rondon / Gayle loan swap deal will go through today. A deficit in wages, and who would pay what, complicated negotiations. Gayle is in the Midlands sorting the finer details of his move / medical. About done at the Newcastle end. #wba
— Paul Suart (@PaulSuartWBA) August 6, 2018
Both forwards were left out of their club’s recent squads as the two players are set to be on the move before the end of the transfer window.
OPINION
This transfer is getting more strange by the day. With Rafael Benitez desperate to sign a striker to bolster his attacking options ahead of next season, he obviously thought Salomon Rondon was a good option. However, if this transfer means that he has to let go of one of his best strikers, Dwight Gayle, in order to secure Rondon, why didn’t he just pull out of the deal or try another way of getting his man? It’s likely that including Gayle in the transfer is something that has come from above Benitez’s head, in that it may save them money in the Rondon transfer and they won’t have to pay the transfer fee that he would have commanded without Gayle’s inclusion. That does sound something like Mike Ashley would do. Either way, it looks like Rafael Benitez will get a new striker ahead of next season, but at what cost?