Newcastle United’s £2m loan fee proves invaluable for West Brom: Analysis

Utilising the loan market to great effect can ultimately be a difference maker for a club and a player’s season.

Dwight Gayle has been a well-respected striker in association with the Championship for a number of years, since initially bursting onto the second tier scene with Peterborough United back in 2012.

Whilst he’s notoriously acknowledged as the man who ground Liverpool’s charge for the Premier League title to a halt in 2014 for Crystal Palace, Gayle will be remembered with great fondness for his goalscoring exploits in the second tier for Newcastle United and West Bromwich Albion.

Dwight Gayle’s Championship-winning exploits

Gayle was a shrewd acquisition at St James’ Park under Rafael Benitez back in 2016, and his tally of 23 goals in 32 league games as the Geordies secured the title with 94 points more than proved his ability at this level.

However, as is the case with a number of players, there was always a question mark regarding whether the centre-forward could reach the same heights in the Premier League.

He still struck six times in 35 appearances as Newcastle finished in a more than respectable 10th place in their first season back in the top-flight.

Gayle’s barnstorming season at The Hawthorns

Meanwhile, West Bromwich Albion had just ended a stint of eight unbroken years in the Premier League.

Despite losing key players such as Ben Foster, Jonny Evans, Nacer Chadli and Salomon Rondon, Darren Moore still maintained a core of a squad more than adequate to challenge at the top end of the Championship in 2018/19.

Although they’d face strong competition from the likes of Norwich City, Aston Villa, Leeds United and the pre-season favourites Stoke City for automatic promotion – the addition of Gayle for the season made a statement that Albion weren’t planning on sticking around in the division for a lengthy period of time.

Ultimately, the £2m loan fee which saw Rondon move in the opposite direction was worth every penny at the time.

As if Baggies fans didn’t need reminding of how influential Gayle was in a season which saw them make the bizarre call to part ways with Moore with two months of the regular season remaining, he’d registered 14 of his 31 goal contributions for the club by the time the 14th game of the season rolled around in late October.

Formidable striking partnership

Netting 23 goals in total, the striker was the third-highest scorer in the division behind Teemu Puuki, Neal Maupay and Tammy Abraham, with the latter duo joint on 25 strikes.

West Brom would end the season as the second-highest scorers in the Championship with a tally of 87. That was unsurprising to many when Moore, and latterly James Shan, had the services of Gayle and Jay Rodriguez to call upon.

Between them, they scored 45 of those goals, making them responsible for 51.7% of Albion’s goals across the 46-game regular season.

Gayle would also collect the matchball on two occasions, netting hat-tricks in a 4-0 win over Rotherham United and 4-1 success over Preston North End.

A sour end to his time at The Hawthorns

After firing the side into the play-offs, they didn’t pan out as planned for Gayle and West Brom.

This was despite the striker firing them into the lead in the first-leg against Aston Villa at Villa Park, as he punished Glenn Whelan’s backpass.

That was as good as it got for the loanee, who, after Villa had turned the tide through a Conor Hourihane rocket and an Abraham penalty, was shown a second yellow card for a reckless challenge on Jed Steer, having already been booked for time-wasting when Albion were still in front.

It would prove to be his last game for the club, as Villa went on to win on penalties at The Hawthorns, before defeating Derby County in the final at Wembley Stadium.

Dwight Gayle’s career since 2018/19

Since his departure from B71, Gayle was initially used as a squad player under Steve Bruce for Newcastle.

In his final three seasons at the club, he would make 43 more Premier League appearances, scoring five times, before leaving for Stoke City in July 2022.

In his only full season at the Bet365, Gayle scored three goals for the Potters, two of which came against Sunderland – giving him plenty of satisfaction as a former Magpie.

However, his contract was terminated at the end of the 2024 January transfer window after making just four starts under Alex Neil and Steven Schumacher.

This led to links with the likes of Sheffield Wednesday, Derby County and Charlton Athletic, but he is yet to find new employers.

It’s clear that Gayle’s career hasn’t hit the same heights since his loan spell at Albion, who will feel justified in the payment of such a hefty loan fee.