OPINION
Newcastle United must work uncharacteristically fast in their talks to sign West Bromwich Albion attacker Salomon Rondon as it will have a negative effect on Dwight Gayle ahead of the new season.
The Chronicle reported on Saturday that talks had restarted with WBA over potentially signing their 28-year-old forward despite his release clause expiring in his contact.
The newspaper stated that the Baggies and the Magpies had touched base over a potential deal and that it could be possible that a swap plus cash deal could be discussed as the Championship side were still keen on Gayle.
The Express & Star previously claimed that WBA were only willing to sanction a loan deal for Rondon if the Magpies current £40,000-a-week attacker (Source: Spotrac) arrived at the Hawthorns in return.
Given that Rondon no longer has an easy to active release clause his contract available then it’s very likely that Gayle will be used as bait to secure some sort of agreement with the Baggies for the Venezuelan forward’s services.
Rafa Benitez has been resigned to keeping Gayle at St James since last week for the upcoming season, as cited by The Chronicle, and the player no doubt was also back to preparing to play in the Premier League for another campaign.
However with talks being back underway the 27-year-old is no doubt distracted by the fact he could soon be uprooting his life in order to go play for the Baggies in the Championship.
There’s no way Gayle will possibly be in the right frame of mind by the time the season starts if the Magpies leave it right up until the transfer deadline for him to know who he is about to play for.
The transfer window is due to shut on August 9 with the Magpies having their first league game of the season two days later and this means Gayle clearly isn’t going to be mentally ready to face Tottenham if talks about signing Rondon go right to the death.
Benitez was previously thought to be frustrated, according to the Chronicle, that Gayle would be unsettled over talks about a swap deal as the manager would need to rely on him if a deal didn’t get done.
Therefore the Magpies must act fast in their talks over Rondon, whether it means aborting their pursuit or successfully welcoming him, as it will effect Gayle needlessly.
