Dwight Gayle has his manager's full backing next year after impressing Steve Bruce during his end of season run in the side.
After barely featuring throughout the first part of the 2019/20 season, Gayle was given the nod post-restart demoting record signing Joelinton to the bench. Gayle's promotion was quickly vindicated as he scored four goals in just eight games - while the man he replaced, Joelinton, had managed just two strikes in his 38 matches.
Bruce was clearly happy with the former Crystal Palace man's performances, and stated in an interview with The Shield Gazette:
“I was really impressed with Dwight at the end of the season, the way he finished. He had four in seven games when he was getting a bit fit. He’s come back and burst on to the scene. He’s looking in tip-top shape. He had two bad injuries last year."
However, while Gayle has caught the eye, Newcastle largely struggled to score goals all season. The Magpies currently have four strikers on the books, but between them they managed just six league goals last term. In fact no Newcastle player reached double figures for the campaign with top scorer Miguel Almirón only managing eight.
While better use of Gayle may help ease their attacking woes, the has typically struggled in the Premier League and it would be a big ask for him to become their main man next year.
It seems Bruce is aware of this and recognises his squad needs a bit more firepower, stating: "If we can improve in any position, then I’ll try, but certainly the forward areas are always the most mouth-watering ones."
In what was expected to be an active summer for the Magpies due to their potential takeover, following the collapse of the deal they have been quiet and have only dealt in free transfers so far. Jeff Hendrick has recently joined the club, but only other business has been the signing of goalkeeper Mark Gillespie who left Motherwell in May.
Source : 90min