Newcastle United striker Dwight Gayle is being targeted by Fulham should a £20million deal for teammate Aleksandar Mitrovic fall through, according to the Mirror.
The newspaper report that personal terms have been agreed by Mitrovic but the two sides are yet to come to an agreement on price, leaving the drawn-out transfer in limbo.
The Mirror claim that while progress is expected this week, the Whites have now lined up a swoop for other Magpies striker Gayle should that not happen.
OPINION
This would be a pretty disastrous situation for Newcastle should the Mitrovic sale not go through. Manager Rafa Benitez is relying on that £20million to fund much of his summer business, and so for that not to happen would put a huge spanner in the works as he plots his moves in the final weeks of the window. The sale of Gayle would not even raise half of that amount, and Benitez would be scrambling for funds while also being left with a striker in Mitrovic he clearly does not want at the club. It could be that Newcastle are forced into some kind of compromise with the Mitrovic deal, possibly taking a couple of million off the price tag to force the move through. That would be a blow, but not as big a blow as if there was no deal on the table. Another factor to add into this is time, with days running out until the end of the window, and Newcastle need to act fast if they want to secure that investment while also bringing in the right players.
