Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
After relegation last season Newcastle’s bid to bounce back to the Premier League at the first time of asking is going as well as they could have possibly hoped with Rafa Benitez’s men currently sitting top of The Championship with a three point lead over Brighton in second place.
The fact that they are sitting pretty at the top of the table is due in no small part to the goals of Dwight Gayle. His 11 goals have not only propelled The Magpies to the top of the table but it has also put Gayle to the top of the scoring charts. After such an impressive start to the campaign it has people asking whether or not he should be considered for international selection.
The obvious criticism will be that Gayle is playing in a level lower than what is usually required to represent England but there is no doubting the fact that the former Crystal Palace forward is in form right now and that is something that we are seemingly lacking in Gareth Southgate’s current squads right now.
The case for the defence (or is that attack in this instance) will point to the fact that the forwards that were called up in the latest England squad are hardly trailblazing through the Premier League right now. Captain Wayne Rooney is struggling to get into the Manchester United side as is his Liverpool counterpart Daniel Sturridge.
Add to the mix that Harry Kane had only come back from injury last week and is lacking the sharpness to feature and Leicester’s Jamie Vardy is struggling to repeat the feats of last season and all of a sudden looking at someone such as Dwight Gayle doesn’t look like the worst idea in the world.
Gayle’s record so far this season is 1 goal every 94 minutes (11 goals in 12 appearances), so if we use a small bit artistic license that is pretty much a goal every game on average not a bad record at any level but the caveat here is that obviously it’s easier to score against the likes of Barnsley and Brentford then it is Arsenal and Manchester United.
But there is no doubting that the 26 year old is a purple patch of form right now and if his goal scoring exploits continue to keep Newcastle at the top of the league and subequently secure a return to the top flight then the £10m that was forked out for him in the Summer will look like an absolute bargain.
Others may say that Gayle has perhaps found his level with a move back down to England’s second tier. After joining Crystal Palace from Peterborough in 2013 for £6m he went on to score 15 Premier league goals in 64 matches during his 3 year stint in South London.
Even at Championship level the most he ever scored for Peterborough was 13 and right now there is no danger of Gayle surpassing that feat, if he keeps up this current ratio of goals to minutes then we could be looking at somewhere near a 40 goal haul come the end of May.
But as we all know form can disappear with a blink of an eye and with no international football on the horizon until March a lot can change in those four months. Not only could Gayle go through a barren spell but there is also the albeit diminishing possibility of a new man at the England helm and one who wouldn’t even consider looking at players in the Championship.
If we are to make the assumption that Newcastle do get promoted thanks to the goals of Dwight Gayle then the real acid test will be whether that form can continue against the meanest defences in the country. If that proves to be the case then the forward who at one point was plying his trade in the 9th tier of English football could very well be representing his country one day.
I think everyone with a interest in the plight of England will be keeping a keen eye on what Gayle can do over these next few months and whether or not he can not only force but truly earn his way into the international setup for the first time.
