'Bag a hatful' - Newcastle United verdict on Stoke City-bound Dwight Gayle

Dwight Gayle will leave with best wishes and a lot of gratitude when he ends a six-year stay at Newcastle United.

The 32-year-old striker is expected to complete a move to Stoke City, becoming Michael O'Neill's sixth signing of the summer - and hoping to recapture the prolific form he always shown when he has played in the Championship.

He scored 13 times in 29 games for Peterborough when he made his breakthrough nearly a decade ago, then 23 in 32 for Newcastle when they won promotion in 2017. He was back on loan at this level to score 23 in 39 for West Bromwich Albion in 2018/19 too.

The last couple of seasons have been spent in and out of the team at St James's Park but supporters have not forgotten his goals and hard work, particularly in that title-winning season under Rafa Benitez.

Fans have flooded social media with messages such as 'Foggy' saying: "Good luck to Dwight Gayle. He'll do well with Stoke and bag a hatful of goals."

Howard said: "It will be interesting to see how he gets on with Stoke and I wish him the best. I honestly think he should have been given more game time at NUFC. It will also be interesting to see how Mitrovic performs back in the Premiership."

NUFC9 posted: "Good luck and best wishes to him. As our last couple of managers clearly had no intention of playing him, the club should have sold him 2-3 years ago when he was a red hot striker on loan in the Championship. Would easily have been worth £15-20m to a promotion chasing club.

"We've missed out on that fee plus paid him £6m in wages to keep him the past 3 years without giving him any real chance to play."

Nut wrote: "The goal he scored against Man Utd years ago and his record in the Championship had me thinking he’s going to be lethal when