According to claims from The Sunday People, as relayed by Birmingham Live, Newcastle United striker Dwight Gayle is the subject of interest from several Chinese clubs.
The 29-year-old, who scored 24 goals in 42 appearances on his loan spell at West Brom in the Championship last season, had been linked with a move back to the Hawthorns in the summer (h/t Birmingham Live), but a permanent transfer to West Midlands collapsed due to the Baggies’ financial constraints.
Despite Magpies boss Steve Bruce initially expressing his desire to hold on to Gayle (h/t Chronicle Live), the striker’s future at St. James’ Park continues to be up in the air, with the 29-year-old struggling to break into the manager’s plans.
Having missed the first couple of the months due to an injury, Gayle returned to action as a late substitute in a 1-0 defeat against Chelsea on October 19 and followed it up with another late cameo in the 1-1 draw against Wolves at home.
With his contract in the north-east set to expire in 2021, the former Arsenal man could well be forced to seek greener pastures moving forward.
Ironically, Rafael Benitez quit Newcastle to head to the Chinese Super League with Dalian Yifang earlier in the summer and was instrumental in securing the services of last season’s loanee Salomon Rondon. However, as per the report, the Spaniard is not keen on a reunion with Dwight Gayle.
To put things into perspective, it would make perfect sense for the Magpies to get him off their books amidst interest from cash-rich Chinese clubs.
With the likes of Allan Saint-Maximin, Miguel Almiron and Joelinton clearly the first-choice attackers under Bruce, Gayle will find regular minutes hard to come by in the Premier League if he stays put at Tyneside.
Furthermore, the Magpies already have Andy Carroll in their ranks to provide a different dimension to their attack with his physicality inside the box, meaning that Gayle is currently the third-choice striker at the club behind Joelinton and Caroll in the pecking order.
The 29-year-old, who boasts of eye-watering returns of 59 goals in 100 Championship career appearances, has proven himself to be way less proficient when it comes to delivering the goods in the Premier League, as evident from his meagre tally of 21 goals in 101 top-flight outings.
Despite moving up to 13th in the standings with back-to-back victories over West Ham and Bournemouth in recent weeks, Newcastle would still need to improve on their returns of 11 goals in 12 games if they are to secure a respectable mid-table finish.
With that in mind, manager Steve Bruce would be wise to bolster his attack with some new signings in January.
To that end, selling Dwight Gayle to one of the Chinese clubs could possibly hand a sizable boost to the club’s transfer kitty, which, in turn, would allow Bruce to improve his ranks with further reinvestment.
That said, Newcastle shouldn’t have any second thoughts about parting ways with the 29-year-old if the Chinese clubs come calling for his services in January.
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