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Newcastle United confirm Wednesday £15m bid received for Dwight Gayle – Sky Sports

7 years ago
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On Tuesday night, Sky Sports reported that claims Newcastle had accepted a bid of £15m were wide of the mark.

Sky Sports’ man in the north east, Keith Downie, saying that after checking it out with NUFC, he was told Fulham hadn’t even been in touch with Newcastle United.

However, that has all changed, with Keith Downie saying it has now been confirmed to him by Newcastle United ‘sources’ that a £15m bid from the Cottagers has been made this (Wednesday) morning, with NUFC ‘considering whether to accept’.

Keith Downie of Sky Sports:

“Newcastle sources tell us this morning they have received a £15m from Fulham for striker Dwight Gayle. They’re considering whether to accept.

“Fulham’s formal bid only landed on the St James Park desk this (Wednesday) morning.

“Not rejected but we understand they’re looking for closer to £20m.

“Rafa Benitez wants to be sure he has a replacement lined up before Newcastle agree to sell Dwight Gayle. £15m Fulham bid on the table.”

The Mag – Last night (Tuesday 29 August 2017):

Sky Sports say that claims Newcastle have accepted a bid of £15m for Dwight Gayle are wide of the mark.

It had been claimed by French media organisation RMC that Fulham were the club to make the successful offer, with then subsequent claims elsewhere that the bid had been leaked via an agent to the French media.

However, Keith Downie who covers Newcastle United for Sky Sports, says that after checking it out, Fulham haven’t even been in touch with NUFC about Dwight Gayle. After coming so close last season to promotion, Fulham do look in need of a striker, as whilst they have only conceded three goals so far, they have only scored four themselves in the first five Championship matches this season.

Despite this rubbishing of the supposed Fulham bid, there does actually appear to be substance in the rumours of Rafa Benitez being prepared to sell the striker, IF they can land a new forward of their own.

Both local and national media are reporting that Newcastle are prepared to sell their number nine, with a price tag of £18m widely reported today.

The Guardian say that Rafa Benitez has ‘been concerned by his (Gayle’s) attitude’ and after leaving the striker out of his 18 man matchday squad on Saturday, the United boss once again talked about the player’s confidence issues (see below).

The final 20 Championship matches last season saw Dwight Gayle only start five matches and score three goals, in the opening 26 games he had scored 20.

Maybe Rafa Benitez simply sees a forward who is giving diminishing returns and can’t even be relied upon to be playing.

Unless there is some other issue that is going on inside St James Park that has led to him being left out, it is difficult to see any club paying anywhere close to £18m for somebody who is struggling to even get onto the pitch.

The Guardian report says that Newcastle could even end u coming down to nearer the £10m they paid Palace for the striker, to make a deal happen.

In Gayle’s circumstances, maybe a likely scenario would be to see a lesser initial fee of closer to that £10m fee and then significant extra money if he does manage to play regularly for anther club.

As was outlined above, Rafa would only contemplate letting Gayle go if he had a replacement lined up and Origi on loan from Liverpool is being put forward as Rafa’s preferred option.

It is all a bit mad that this is happening in the final throes of the transfer window but suddenly I am finding it hard to imagine seeing Dwight Gayle playing for Newcastle United again.

Bottom line as well maybe is the fact that Newcastle don’t have any stand out players these days and if one player can be sold to then allow somebody better/more useful to arrive, then so be it.

The Mag – Earlier today (29 August 2017):

Rafa Benitez has been talking about Dwight Gayle again.

The Newcastle manager saying that his number nine wasn’t left out of the 18 man squad v West Ham due to injury.

Rafa instead giving two other reasons, as to why Gayle wasn’t involved after starting against both Spurs and Huddersfield.

The first reason the United boss gave, was that Mitrovic had been doing well in training.

However, the other factor was ‘confidence’.

Back in February of this year, was the first time Benitez said that confidence was an issue for Dwight Gayle, that the recurring hamstring problems the striker had experienced in the past couple of years, meant he then had problems mentally once the physical side had healed. That is problems with feeling able to sprint flat out, which is obviously the key part of his game when getting into scoring positions.

At the beginning of August Rafa came back to these confidence issues affecting Dwight Gayle and now he is saying the same thing again.

Joselu did pretty well and obviously scored against West Ham, whilst Mitrovic also did ok in his 20 minutes at the end, also scoring.

However, it is clear that a better quality attacking option is also needed as part of the mix.

On his best form of last season, Dwight Gayle could well be that man, but with these injury/confidence issues you can’t count on it.

The last 48 hours have seen claims that Newcastle could sell Gayle and use the money to buy a new striker, with some media/fans even claiming that Newcastle could get as much as £20m for the former Palace man.

Much of that is based on the fact that Burnley paid £15m for Chris Wood, who ended up top scorer in the Championship last season with four more goals than Dwight Gayle, but he started 15 more matches for Leeds as Gayle was the victim of hamstring/confidence issues…

Little doubt the Newcastle striker would have finished top scorer with 30+ goals last season but only if he had stayed fit…and that is a big if.

Chris Wood has started this season in good form and fitness, scoring once for Leeds before his move, then a dream Premier League debut seeing him scoring that late equaliser for Burnley at Wembley against Tottenham on Sunday.

On the other hand, as we know all too well, Dwight Gayle hasn’t looked anywhere near his best and now his manager confirms the confidence issues again.

The bottom line surely is that for better or worse, Newcastle United and their number nine are stuck together at least until January, as nobody is going to pay big money for a striker with hamstring/confidence issues – no matter how mad the transfer market has gone. There being little point in allowing him to go out on loan, with next to nothing added to Rafa’s transfer pot.

Hopefully this will work to our advantage and Gayle can get himself sorted and get back amongst the goals.

If anybody is going to leave then surely it will have to be Mitrovic, with his fitness proved and scoring a couple of goals already helping to pull in a buyer, rather than somebody landing him on loan.

Rafa Benitez talking about Dwight Gayle’s absence on Saturday:

“Dwight Gayle wasn’t on the bench because Mitrovic has been doing well and training well.

“We had two strikers (Joselu & Mitrovic) and they both scored.

“Obviously, he (Gayle) has to go back to his level, but sometimes with strikers, it depends on scoring goals and confidence, so we will see.

“He is coming back and he is training well again, but because he had this issue maybe two or three weeks ago, he was a little bit worried and we were talking.

“In reality, he was not injured, so it’s just the confidence.

“I think he needs his confidence back – he’s fine, he was training (ahead of West Ham).”

The Mag – 7 August 2017:

Dwight Gayle started 21 of Newcastle’s first 26 Championship matches last season, scoring 20 goals.

After scoring and picking up yet another hamstring injury against Brentford on 14 January 2017, Gayle then missed a number of matches, returning for the Aston Villa home match on 20 February.

A week before that Villa game, Rafa Benitez suggested that getting his main striker back playing, was at least as much a mental thing as a physical thing, saying ‘It depends on him…he has trained OK. But sometimes it is the confidence of the player, so we will see how he feels.’

After only 33 minutes of that Villa game, Dwight Gayle was subbed, saying he didn’t feel right.

In the final 20 games of the Championship season, he only started five matches and score three goals, with ongoing worries about Dwight Gayle feeling confident of playing again without worries over his recurring hamstring problems.

Kicking off the friendlies with both goals in a 2-1 win at Hearts, Newcastle’s number nine burst out laughing when it was suggested after the game that his hamstring problems were ‘clearly behind’ him. Saying ‘I wouldn’t say that. Just seeing how it goes and fingers crossed’.

With just 30 minutes in the last three friendlies and no time on the pitch in the last two games, Dwight Gayle’s fears appear to have proved correct.

However, just like back in February, Rafa Benitez once again says it is very much a ‘confidence’ thing, rather than purely a hamstring issue.

A key part of the forward’s game is his pace and Rafa says that Dwight Gayle has to regain the ‘confidence to know he can sprint’ and that they are working in training to try and help him do that.

The last player Newcastle needed to have missing this coming season, with a ‘hamstring niggle’ and ‘confidence’ issues, difficult to see Gayle starting against Spurs – so best hope is we could see him on the bench and potentially involved in a cameo later on, with a first Premier League start for Newcastle just around the corner.

Just like Dwight Gayle, Newcastle fans will have ‘fingers crossed’.

Rafa Benitez – 6 August 2017:

”It’s not his hamstring – it’s more the feeling that he has. He’s not comfortable and we don’t want to take any risks.

“Dwight is training with the fitness coach, so hopefully he can carry on training this week.

“He needs the confidence to know he can sprint and do everything as he was doing before.

“It’s a question of confidence, so we will carry on pushing him in training and hopefully we can get back the confidence.”

Dwight Gayle interviewed – 15 July 2017 (after scoring twice v Hearts):

‘Towards the back end of last season you were plagued by that hamstring trouble a little bit. That’s clearly behind you now, it is all in the past?’

In response, Dwight Gayle burst out laughing at the playing down of his injury problems and said:

“I wouldn’t say that. Just seeing how it goes and fingers crossed I can get as many games as possible next season.”

Rafa Benitez – 13 February 2017:

“It depends on him (Dwight Gayle).

“He is training with the team and he has trained OK.

“But sometimes it is the confidence of the player, so we will see how he feels.”

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