Newcastle United head coach Steve Bruce will hold crunch talks with in-demand attacker Dwight Gayle on Tuesday, according to the Northern Echo.
The newspaper claims that the Magpies boss will spend the next few days attempting to convince the 28-year-old that his future lies on Tyneside.
Officials from Championship heavyweights Leeds United and West Bromwich Albion have been in touch with Newcastle about the Englishman in the last 24 hours.
Gayle has become concerned that he is bottom of the attacking pecking order at St James’ Park, but Bruce wants him to stay and will reiterate that message on Tuesday.
OPINION
If Gayle expresses a genuine desire to leave Newcastle then it would appear that there is very little the club can do to keep him. The problem here is that the player is probably spot on with what he’s concerned about. There’s no disputing the fact that it’s very unlikely that he will feature regularly for the Magpies this season. Joelinton is the undisputed starter in attack after his club record move from Hoffenheim, while the Echo’s report states that Bruce is likely to partner him with Miguel Almiron and Allan Saint-Maximin in attack once they are all fully fit and up to speed. Yoshinori Muto, too, has seemingly positioned himself as the number one option off the substitutes bench with a number of encouraging pre season performances. So Gayle isn’t really going to feature regularly, which leaves Bruce with the difficult task of convincing him to remain where he is. With West Brom, where he spent the last campaign on loan, and Leeds sniffing around, Bruce has his work cut out for him.
