Steve Bruce given a timely 'reminder' by this Newcastle United player

Dwight Gayle’s firmly in Steve Bruce’s plans at Newcastle United.
Dwight Gayle.Dwight Gayle.
Dwight Gayle.

The striker put an injury-hit first half of the season behind him to figure prominently in the Premier League restart.

Gayle – who missed the start of the season with a calf injury – scored four goals in the final few weeks of the campaign and kept £40million signing Joelinton out of the starting XI.

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And Bruce is hoping the 29-year-old, under contract at St James’s Park for another year, “comes back firing”.

“He’s been one who’s been blighted (by injuries),” said United’s head coach. “When I arrived, he had a bad calf which took weeks and months to get over with, and then he did the other one, which took weeks and months to get over.

"So he’s had a great end (to the season). Let’s hope he has a really decent summer and comes back firing, because he’s reminded everybody that the kid’s a goalscorer.

"I’ve said that on day one when I walked through the door he’s a goalscorer, and given an opportunity, he’ll score, because that’s what he’s done all his career.”

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Bruce tried to sign Gayle, signed by Rafa Benitez from Crystal Palace in 2016 following United’s relegation from the Premier League, three times previously in his managerial career.

Gayle had spent the previous season on loan at West Bromwich Albion, and could be a target for the newly-promoted club this summer.