Newcastle striker Dwight Gayle does have a future at St. James' Park, according to new boss Eddie Howe.
Howe's insistence comes amid rumours of Gayle moving on loan to Nottingham Forest or back to West Brom for Gayle, who has seen just 21 minutes of Premier League action so far this season.
Gayle spent the 2018/19 campaign with the Baggies, banging in 24 goals in 41 appearances.
Speaking about the 32-year-old ahead of Newcastle's home clash with Burnley on Saturday, Howe said:
"What I have seen is someone who can certainly score goals, is a brilliant finisher.
"I think he's got real competition, because I think Callum [Wilson] and Dwight are very similar players, in a sense that they both lead the line.
"So it’s great to have two experienced players in that position, and two players who certainly know where the goal is.
"So Dwight will have an important role."
Consider those rumours thoroughly quashed, then.
That said, no one will have been surprised that they surfaced in the first place, such has been Gayle's tendency to 'fall down the gap' between the Premier League and Championship.
Too good for the second tier but not quite good enough for the top flight? That has often seemed to be the case for the man Newcastle signed from Crystal Palace five years ago.
But Howe clearly feels that Gayle is an asset to his side's bid for survival — and might his comments suggest that the Magpies' January may be rather modest, at least in the attacking department?
