Slaven Bilic has admitted that West Brom attempted to sign Dwight Gayle from Newcastle United in the summer transfer window.
Speaking to The Birmingham Mail, the Croatian manager revealed that the Premier League attacker was a player the Baggies tried to bring to the Hawthorns after Gayle played a crucial role for West Brom in the 2018/19 season which saw the former Crystal Palace star bag 24 goals.
Since returning to Newcastle, Gayle has seemingly forever been linked with a permanent switch back to West Brom with the Albion frantically looking for a striker in the January window, however as we know, Callum Robinson and Kamil Grosicki were brought in instead of the Magpies attacker, yet Bilic has since admitted the club did attempt to sign the 29-year-old.
Did Slaven Bilic make a mistake not signing Dwight Gayle?NoYes |
The former West Ham manager confessed: “Not in January but in the summer we tried. Obviously, we lost 12 players and it’s not good to have such a huge turnaround in a squad. Because he was so good and so instrumental last season, we wanted to get him back. We did everything to get him but it wasn’t to be. It was impossible. In January there were some rumours and some speculation in the papers but no, no, no, we didn’t try then.”
With Gayle a firm fan favourite at the Hawthorns following his heroics last season, it is easy to understand why plenty of supporters were at some point begging Bilic to re-sign the attacker, yet following West Brom’s January business, it seems like the Baggies made the right decision going for alternative names.
Robinson has already established him as a crucial part of the new-look attacking three, and Grosicki’s record in the Championship with Hull City over the past 18 months have given fans a lot to be excited about, and although Gayle would have been a welcome addition, Bilic has seemingly made the right decision distancing West Brom from their past.
