The Athletic’s West Bromwich Albion reporter Steve Madeley recently answered some readers’ questions in a West Brom mailbag article and the journalist discussed the possibility of the Baggies making a move for Newcastle United attacker Dwight Gayle in response to one reader’s question about the Baggies’ targets at the centre-forward position.
Gayle was on loan at The Hawthorns for the 2018/19 season and it may be fair to say that the striker enjoyed a positive spell with the West Midlands club as he ended that campaign as the Baggies’ top league goalscorer, hitting the back of the net 24 times in his 40 Championship appearances for the club, as per WhoScored.
Gayle didn’t enjoy as much success during the 2019/20 Premier League campaign after he returned to Newcastle United following his loan spell with the Baggies. He scored just four goals in 20 top-flight appearances last term. Just 10 of his Premier League appearances last season were starts, while he made his remaining 10 appearances as a substitute, as per WhoScored.
During Madeley’s recent West Brom mailbag, one Albion fan asked the journalist: “Which strikers are we looking at?”
One of the names that Madeley mentioned as a potential West Brom target at the centre-forward position in response to that question was Gayle.
Here is what he had to say about the Baggies potentially bringing Gayle back to the Hawthorns: “Dwight Gayle is into the final year of his contract at Newcastle United so I’m sure there will be conversations about him, given the impact he had on loan at Albion in 2018/19, but he’ll be the wrong side of 30 a month into next season so I think the fee and wages package would have to be reasonable for the club to pursue a deal for a player who would have minimal sell-on value.”
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TIF Thoughts…
Despite his impressive goalscoring record during his loan spell with West Brom back in the 2018/19 season, Albion ultimately opted not to sign Gayle on a permanent deal last summer.
As per the BBC, the club’s technical director Luke Dowling explained the decision not to sign Gayle on a permanent deal by saying: “Dwight’s contract is a Premier League contract.
“We will pay Premier League contracts but only when we are back in the Premier League.”
With that in mind, it may not come as a huge surprise if the Baggies do decide to go back in for Gayle now that they are set to play in the Premier League next season, especially as the £8.55m-rated man scored more than twice as many league goals for the Baggies during the 2018/19 season as any Albion player scored for the club in the Championship last season.