Newcastle United journalist Liam Kennedy insists that the club have been trying to sell Dwight Gayle since their promotion to the Premier League.

Gayle has been with the club since 2016 and has made a total of 113 appearances for the Magpies.

He has struggled for goals at times, though, with his most prolific campaign coming in the Championship, when he scored 23 times in 2018/19.

In his three Premier League seasons, he has scored just 11 goals, and Kennedy believes that the club have been trying to offload him for some time.

Indeed, they managed to sign Callum Wilson from Bournemouth last season and he went on to score 12 goals in 26 league games.

And Kennedy thinks that the club will continue to offer Gayle out as they bid to shift him from their squad.

He said: “Newcastle United, really, in many ways have been trying to replace Dwight Gayle for about five years now. Since they got promoted, they’ve wanted an upgrade on Dwight Gayle and they did that, in getting Callum Wilson.”

Newcastle start their Premier League season against West Ham United this weekend and it remains to be seen if Gayle will be included in the squad under Steve Bruce.