Exclusive: Kevin Phillips expects West Brom approach to sign this PL ‘Goalscorer’ in Jan
We’re delighted to welcome former West Brom striker Kevin Phillips as our exclusive columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at The Hawthorns…
Kevin Phillips expects West Brom manager Sam Allardyce to make an approach for Newcastle United’s Dwight Gayle in January if the striker is available.
The Newcastle Chronicle reported earlier this month that the 30-year-old remains on West Brom’s radar ahead of the transfer window reopening in less than two weeks’ time.
Gayle has been regularly linked with a return to The Hawthorns after spending the 2018/19 season on loan in the Black Country.
During that loan spell, Gayle scored 24 goals in 41 appearances across all competitions but has struggled for game-time at Newcastle since due to injuries and Joelinton’s mega-money move to the North-East.
Ex-West Brom striker Phillips now believes that there’s a chance Allardyce will at least make contact over a move for Gayle next month.
“Dwight Gayle is a goalscorer and he has already scored a lot of goals for West Brom,” Phillips told West Brom News.
“If he was made available I would be very surprised if Sam did not make a phone call.”
Gayle, of course, scored his first goal of the Premier League season this month when he netted a late winner for Newcastle against West Brom.
He scored four goals in 20 Premier League appearances last term for the Magpies as they avoided relegation under Steve Bruce but the ex-Baggies striker only started half of those games.
Since then, he’s been on the mend after suffering a knee injury in September but returned to action a few weeks back to score against his former club.
Would we take Gayle?
In preparation for life back in the Championship, yes. But the Baggies pushed the boat out to sign Karlan Grant in the last transfer window so we’d like to see more faith shown in him.
It could crush the 23-year-old’s confidence if a new striker is brought in to replace him or, alternatively, that extra bit of competition could get the ex-Huddersfield man to up his game.
Either way, we’d take Gayle over Charlie Austin.
In other West Brom news, Stan Collymore has reacted to Allardyce’s admission about Wolves in his first Albion press conference.
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