Signing Confirmed: DWIGHT GAYLE

Another day, another arrival. This time in the form of Crystal Palace forward Dwight Gayle after his well publicised Tyneside discussions with Newcastle United culminated in his permanent transfer.

Gayle arrives from Pardew’s Eagles for a fee rumoured to be £9m, a substantial outlay for essentially a squad player at Palace.

At 25 years old his best years should still be ahead of him of course although for most the jury will be well and truly out on this lad.

HIs professional career has taken off in fairly meteoric proportions in the last 5 seasons. As recently as June 2011 Dwight was the main man at Stransted FC. Yes, you read that right! Moves to Dagenham and Redbridge and the Peterborough followed, where is still held in the highest regard as a footballing talent. But it wasn’t until June 2013 that his big move would arrive with a £4m move to Palace.

In all Gayle has netted 15 times in the Premier League in his 64 games. What Newcastle will of course be hoping for is that Dwight has the sort of career that another ex-Eagle ‘late developer’ ended up having after his move to Arsenal 20 years ago.

This one for us has to go down as a #InRafaWeTrust. If he’s good enough for him, he’s good enough for us, although you can’t help but think how this transfer might have been viewed, especially for the fee involved, had it been McClaren still in charge.

Welcome to Newcastle United Dwight. Anyone who jumps off the Pardew ship is ok by us!