Keith Downie: "Bewildering" £10m Newcastle flop "will" be axed, Howe surely delighted - opinion

A big claim has been made on Newcastle striker Dwight Gayle’s future heading into the summer transfer window.

Sky Sports journalist Keith Downie has revealed that the £10m signing from Crystal Palace in 2016 will leave the club ahead of the 2022/23 campaign.

He told GIVEMESPORT: “Dwight Gayle will go in the summer, and then if he wants three strikers, you’d have Callum Wilson, Chris Wood and then another coming in and then maybe even a fourth who can play off one of the wings, but I think he’d be an option, a good option to have off the bench.”

The Toon manager will be delighted with the news that Gayle will be on his way out of St. James’ Park in the coming months. He is wasting a space in the squad because he has had a minimal impact on the pitch throughout the campaign and it is the right time for him to depart.

In eight Premier League appearances this season, the striker has accrued just 30 minutes of action and this indicates that Howe does not trust him to play a significant portion of games. He has not shown the head coach that he offers enough on the pitch to justify regular game time and his situation seems unlikely to change as he turns 33 later this year.

Noel Whelan claimed it was “bewildering” when he was given a new deal last year and cited Steve Bruce’s potential exit as one of the reasons why it was a strange decision. Of course, the current West Brom manager was relieved of his duties later in the year and now Howe has been left to deal with the ramifications of that call. 

His previous contract was due to expire in the summer of 2021 and these fresh terms take him through to the end of the 2023/24 campaign.

He has one goal in his 26 top-flight outings since the start of last season and five goals in his