Championship outfit West Bromwich Albion head coach Slaven Bilic conceded after the defeat to Steve Bruce’s Newcastle United striker in midweek that his side did indeed try to acquire the services of English attacker Dwight Gayle this summer. The diminutive striker spent the entirety of last campaign on loan at the Hawthorns and finished the season having posted excellent returns in the league.
The report by Birmingham Live suggests that the Baggies didn’t make any queries in January, but that they did have a right go in trying to lure him in prior to the start of the season.
“Obviously we lost 12 players and it’s not good to have such a huge turnaround in a squad,” Bilic claimed.
The West Brom manager continued, “Also, he was so good and so instrumental last season, we wanted to get him back. We did everything to get him, but it was impossible.”
The former Premier League manager then went on to confirm that contrary to rumours, the Baggies didn’t try to acquire the Englishman in January.
What Makes Dwight Gayle An Attractive Prospect For Newcastle?
The 29-year-old has been a feature of the English game for the longest time now, but the sheer lack of consistency in the striker’s performances is undoubtedly what’s holding him back. Despite this, the things he achieved at the Hawthorns last season alongside Jay Rodriguez, cannot be undermined. Having joined on a season-long loan deal, the Englishman started the term as the main striker, and there was no holding him back from that point on.
The dynamic attacker played in a total of 39 league appearances for the Baggies last season, bagging an impressive tally of 23 goals and eight assists. The Newcastle United loanee’s goals and general contributions were vital for West Brom on their way to the Championship playoffs, where he stepped up to the plate and scored that goal against Aston Villa at Villa Park as well. Surprisingly, that goal in the Midlands was the last time that the talented striker actually found the net.
Why The Magpies Must Cash In On Dwight Gayle Next Summer?
The experienced centre-forward has never really been able to kick on in the Premier League, despite being given immense opportunities. He’s always excelled in the second division but just seems to lose the plot after returning to the top flight. This term too, the striker has featured only eleven times and is yet to open his account for the campaign.
With that said though, Steve Bruce has been attempting to gradually bring the talented Englishman into the first-team fray, after the forward picked up an unfortunate injury in the early stages of the season. Despite this though, the fact that he scored 23 times in the Championship for the Magpies back in 2017, and then backed that up with a Premier League campaign which yielded just six goals, should be enough motivation for the Tyneside club to cash in on their striker in the summer.
