Dwight Gayle has snubbed the chance to quit Newcastle United this summer for Stoke City, according to a reliable journalist.
Sun correspondent Alan Nixon, who has a fine track record of breaking transfer stories, revealed on his personal Twitter account on Wednesday morning that the recently-relegated Potters made an approach to Newcastle about signing the forward.
But Gayle, 27, does not want to leave St James’ Park even though the club have been strongly linked with signing forward reinforcements in the current window.
OPINION
It is encouraging for Newcastle that Gayle wants to sit tight and try and make an impact next season. The £40,000-a-week player (source: Spotrac) has been a mainstay of the team in the last two years, scoring 29 goals from 71 matches in all competitions. He was predominantly rotated with Joselu for the centre-forward role in the recently-completed season and his Premier League stats don’t come close to matching his Championship ones. Nevertheless, Gayle is a very handy player to have in the ranks. He is mobile and an excellent finisher, and many clubs would love to have him. Certainly, he would rip it up where he to join a club like Stoke, who will benefit from Premier League parachute payments next season. Ex-Peterborough, Crystal Palace and Dagenham front man Gayle clearly wants to make him mark in the more demanding top flight, where opponents are on a completely different level.
