View: Hopes of 29y/o star re-joining West Brom are surely fading
West Brom are top of the table and goals are flying in from everywhere – most notably our wingers.
However, there is one part of the team that could be improved – the strikers.
In fact, without other players chipping in, West Brom wouldn’t be in such a healthy place in the Championship with 14 games gone.
Hal Robson-Kanu has two from his last three but he’s not the striker we need to lead our line for the rest of the season.
We’re yet to be convinced by Charlie Austin and Kenneth Zohore only has two strikes to his name all season.
Dwight Gayle is the man who would seal promotion for us if he joined in January – we’ve no doubt about that – but the possibility of him moving seems to be getting more and more remote.
He’s inching towards a Premier League start with Newcastle having made two cameo appearances in the last two games following his return from injury.
And, according to Chris Waugh in The Athletic, Gayle was reluctant to leave the north-east when he signed on loan for West Brom last time.
Waugh said: “He was settled in the north-east, having invested in the Newcastle Elite Academy alongside three team-mates, and did not want to return to playing Championship football, either.”
He went on to say that had Rafa Benitez stayed at Newcastle, a deal was close to being agreed for Gayle to re-join the club.
“Sources have told The Athletic that a deal was close to being agreed for Gayle to re-join West Brom on a season-long loan, which contained an obligation-to-buy clause if they gained promotion, during the final week of the summer.
“Sources suggest it was actually Gayle himself who vetoed the loan, once again declaring that he would only depart in a permanent deal.”
New Newcastle manager Steve Bruce is desperate for goals and has always rated Gayle. It seems inevitable that he is going to get the chance to prove himself in the Premier League one last time.
If he starts scoring then any hope of a deal in January will be gone. Paradoxically, Baggies fans must hope he gets his chance and fails dismally before the winter window opens, but that’s hardly a great thing to wish on a potential new player. And even then, Gayle might not want to drop down into the Championship.
From all the evidence, it seems that Slaven Bilic will have to get the Baggies up without Gayle.
In other West Brom news, Super computer predicts where West Brom will finish in Championship