OPINION
West Brom are reportedly within 24 hours of signing Newcastle United forward Dwight Gayle on loan – and it will be a masterstroke of a signing by manager Darren Moore.
According to Sky Sports journalist Keith Downie on his personal Twitter account on Saturday afternoon, the Magpies are close to signing Salomon Rondon on loan with a £2million fee, with Gayle, 27, heading the other way to The Hawthorns.
Understand Rondon-Gayle swap deal is close to completion. Straight loan-swap with Newcastle paying a fee of around £2m for the Venezuelan striker. Could be done in the next 24 hours.
— Keith Downie (@SkySports_Keith) August 4, 2018
It is understood that the deal could be wrapped up by Sunday, and this is a very welcome boost for the West Brom fans after seeing their side lose 2-1 to Bolton at The Hawthorns on their opening day of the season because Gayle will be a ridiculously good signing for the Black Country club.
Gayle scored goals for fun last time he was in the Championship.
Even though he missed a lot of the season with an injury, he still managed to score a stunning 23 goals in 32 league games – a total that the likes of Rondon, Jay Rodriguez and Hal Robson-Kanu could only dream of with the Baggies – and fired Newcastle back into the Premier League as champions of the second-tier.
While Albion’s lack of creativity was their major downfall against Bolton, Moore will now have a striker who he can trust to play on his own up front and use someone like Nacer Chadli or James Morrison in the No 10 role behind him.
It’s hard to look on the bright side at the moment for Baggies fans, who are still stewing in an extremely poor home defeat to what was potentially relegation fodder, but Gayle’s imminent arrival is certainly something that will work out well in the long run.