Monday 20 May 2019 10:02, UK
West Brom have confirmed they will not be signing Newcastle striker Dwight Gayle on a permanent deal.
Gayle scored 24 goals for the Baggies this season while on a loan swap deal with Salomon Rondon.
But having failed in their bid to return to the Premier League after losing to Aston Villa on penalties in the Sky Bet Championship play-offs, West Brom technical director Luke Dowling has said Albion are not in a position to keep the 29-year-old at The Hawthorns.
"No-one would like to keep Dwight more than myself," said Dowling.
"We can all recognise what he gives us on the pitch and the way he conducts himself off the pitch in the local area - he's brought his family down from Newcastle for the year, he's bought into everything we want to do.
"Financially, we were prepared to pay the money for Dwight's contract for this season. It hasn't worked out [after they failed to win promotion].
"Dwight's contract is a Premier League contract and we will pay Premier League contracts, but we'll only do that once we're back in the Premier League.
"I know it won't be the news Albion fans want to hear, but they need to trust us and know we're doing everything right for this club.
"We don't want to keep players on big contracts and have to lay the general staff off and make people redundant.
"We want to keep everyone here because we've got good people behind the scenes."
Gayle's last game for the Baggies came in the first leg of their play-off defeat to Villa, after he was sent off in the closing stages of their 2-1 defeat at Villa Park, having given them the lead earlier in the match.
