‘Guaranteed to be a success at Championship level’ – Nottingham Forest eye move for Newcastle deal: The verdict | OneFootball

This article is part of Football League World’s ‘The Verdict’ series, which provides personal opinions from the FLW writers regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Nottingham Forest are interested in Newcastle United striker Dwight Gayle, according to The Telegraph.

The 32-year-old has a fantastic record in the Championship but is out of favour completely at Newcastle and expected to be made available on loan with an obligation to buy dependent on promotion to the Premier League.

Both Forest and West Bromwich Albion are keen on Gayle but would he be a good signing for the Reds? And do they need him?

Alfie Burns

I understand that Gayle is striker that’s done it time after time in the Championship, but is he seriously what this Forest squad is short of?

In Lyle Taylor and Lewis Grabban, Cooper has two reliable strikers on his books competing for one place in his system.

What’s the point in adding Gayle to the mix in January? It essentially causes more dilemmas where they aren’t really needed.

Forest need to recruit in the full-back positions, whilst someone else to come into the central midfield might not be a bad idea either. Then, you could maybe look at moving around your attacking options. It shouldn’t be a priority though.

Gayle will score goals if he moves into the Championship, but so does Grabban and so would Taylor if he got a half decent run in the side.

In previous years I’d have said yes. Not this time around.

Jordan Rushworth

This type of signing is not one that you would normally associate with Steve Cooper with him having predominantly been a coach that has looked to bring in younger players and develop them, whether that be Premier League loanees or permanent additions.

However, Cooper might have more funds available to him at Nottingham Forest to move for some experienced players that are all but guaranteed to be a success at Championship level.

Dwight Gayle definitely comes into that category and you could see him arriving in January and helping to improve the attacking output of most sides in the division.

Gayle clearly needs a new start and even though Eddie Howe is now in charge at Newcastle, it does not seem as though the forward’s fortunes in terms of regular game time have been altered.

At Forest, Gayle could be supplied by the likes of Brennan Johnson, Joe Lolley and Phillip Zinckernagel that would be something that would be exciting to see and you could see him flourishing if he is given the right sort of service.

Obviously, Forest have Lewis Grabban to consider as well and he is running into the latter part of his deal, so signing Gayle at this point might be a wise decision with next term in mind as well.

Toby Wilding

This does look like it could be a very good signing for Forest if they can pull it off.

Steve Cooper’s side are not exactly stacked with options at centre forward right now, with only Lewis Grabban or Lyle Taylor available for them to really turn to lead the line at the minute.

As a result, a new centre-forward does look like it should be a priority for Forest in January, and given Gayle has previously shown he can consistently get goals at Championship level, he could be a very good candidate to fill that role.

Indeed, Gayle is likely to be aware that with Newcastle in line to spend big following their takeover, it could be hard for him to force his way back into the side, meaning he could be open to a move such as this in search of more regular game time, at a club where he certainly has the potential to make an impact.