Gayle has gone, but he will never be forgotten
SO, that’s all folks.
Dwight Gayle’s Newcastle United career ends not with a bang but with a whimper.
Just the nine substitute appearances under both Steve Bruce and Eddie Howe last season sees the 32-year-old striker depart without the farewell he deserves on Tyneside.
Stoke City are the lucky secondtier club who appear to have won the fierce race for the Magpies’ star, the player in Staffordshire for a medical earlier this week.
Championship clubs were queuing up, like every other transfer window in recent memory, to try and secure Gayle’s signature.
And why not? After all he has done nothing but score goals in that division. 59 goals in 100 appearances make him the 44th-highest scorer in Championship history and an obvious target for clubs seeking firepower in their bid for promotion.
Gayle has endured a gradual and frustrating fall down the pecking order at St James’ Park after injury struggles and an inability to replicate his Championship goalscoring exploits in the top flight - but that should not be the overarching memory of his Magpies spell.
Newcastle’s immediate return to the Premier League under Rafa Benitez in 2017 was due in large part to Gayle’s brilliance in front of goal - 23 goals in 32 outings.
A truly incredible achievement after missing six games between January and February and four of the final five league ties.
Of course, things could have been different for both Gayle and Newcastle.
There were other players on Benitez’s radar after United dropped out of the Premier League.
Ross McCormack was a key target for the Spaniard as he looked for players with Championship nous.
Gayle at the time was in and out of the Crystal Palace team yet the Eagles still demanded £10m for his signature that summer. Benitez has always insisted he was happy to take the risk on the Selhurst Park striker.
He said at the time: “I had no reservations about that.
“One of the things people close to him said to me is that ‘he is a great finisher’ and it’s true. He can finish and score goals so why would you worry about that money?
“I was fine with his qualities as a player. I had no worries about that. It was the other things I wanted to know about – how he was as a person, as a professional. Everything came up well.”
It wasn’t just the fact Gayle scored copious amounts of goals in the Championship, it was the manner of his performances that entire campaign. Confident, fierce, ruthless in front of goal, he terrified inexperienced defensive with his Premier League knowhow.
The 96th-minute winner in the 4-3 win over Norwich, the provocative celebration at Elland Road as he shushed the opposition fans and his hat-trick against Birmingham stand out as cherished memories from a historic campaign.
Gayle did bag six in United’s first season back in the top flight but his inconsistency at that level cost him.
His exit has been coming for a while and surprisingly has not arrived sooner.
In a clear hint Gayle was finally on his way, Howe admitted earlier this summer: “Players you love and have a great relationship with sometimes have to leave for the benefit of the team. This season will be no different.”
The 32-year-old will soon join Isaac Hayden, Ciaran Clark and Jeff Hendrick in departing the club.
However, as fans look back on Gayle’s time on Tyneside in years to come he should be remembered fondly for dragging United back to where they belong at the first time of asking.