West Brom's Newcastle United transfer snub was the right call despite hitting the jackpot | OneFootball

The Baggies decided against signing Dwight Gayle permanently in 2019 - his form afterwards proved it was the correct decision

Dwight Gayle enjoyed one of the finest loan seasons in recent Championship history while at West Brom in 2018/19, but the Baggies decided against signing him permanently at the end of that campaign, which turned out to be the correct call based on his form in the years that followed.

London-born Gayle made his name in the EFL with the likes of Dagenham & Redbridge and Peterborough United prior to a 2013 move to Crystal Palace, with whom he took his first steps into the Premier League before he joined Newcastle United in 2016.

Gayle impressed in the Championship with the Magpies as they won promotion in his maiden campaign at the club, but was unable to transfer that form back into the top-flight in 2017/18, and so joined West Brom following their relegation to the second-tier that season.

A lethal striker when given the right service, Gayle produced some of the best performances of his career in his season at The Hawthorns, while picking up numerous individual awards at the end of his loan spell and winning the hearts of Baggies supporters.

Despite his brilliant showings for West Brom, the club opted not to sign him permanently in the summer of 2019 due to the finances involved in the deal. It seemed like a strange decision at the time, but the Baggies will ultimately feel vindicated by the decision given what has transpired in the seasons since.

Dwight Gayle was a key man for West Brom in 2018/19

The saying to 'never fall in love with a loan player' has become a widely-used term in the modern game about a loanee who is doing well at their temporary club, but Baggies supporters could not help but take to Gayle as he became their talisman following his August 2018 season-long loan move from Newcastle, with Salomon Rondon going the other way in the deal.

He netted his first goal for the club in a 7-1 drubbing of QPR in the third league game of the season, then bagged a brace against fellow Championship new-boys Stoke City in early September, with the first of those strikes going on to win the Baggies' Goal of the Season award.

Gayle picked up the league's Player of the Month trophy for that month, with three more goals and two assists in games against Bristol City, Preston North End and Millwall. West Brom began October at the summit of the table, and their return to the second-tier looked to be going completely to plan.

The then-29-year-old continued to score at a regular rate throughout the campaign, with hat-tricks against the likes of Preston and Rotherham United, and winners against Stoke and Hull City.

The Baggies were unable to keep up their early-season form, however, and finished fourth in the table to set up a play-off semi-final against Midlands rivals Aston Villa. Gayle bagged in the first-leg at Villa Park, but his campaign ended on a sour note as he was sent off for a second yellow late on in the game, and they lost the second-leg in his absence.

Gayle scored 24 times in 41 appearances overall, and even picked up the club's Supporters Player of the Season award at the end of the campaign, but the Hawthorns' hierarchy actually made the call not to pursue signing him on a full-time deal that summer.

Albion technical director Luke Dowling told BBC West Midlands at the time that the striker was on "a Premier League contract" at Newcastle, while he urged supporters to stay patient and that they were "doing everything right" to get them back to the top-flight. That certainly aged well, given how Gayle struggled after his time with the Baggies.

Gayle never reached his West Brom heights again - he now plays in Scotland

Gayle returned to Newcastle as the Baggies decided against a permanent move, but despite his impressive exploits in the Championship, he again struggled to adapt to life in the Premier League, and spent most of his final two years at the club out injured before leaving upon the expiry of his contract in 2022.

He dropped back into the second-tier that year to join Stoke City, who had initially wanted to sign him back in 2018 before he joined West Brom. Despite Gayle being 32 by the time he joined the Potters, there was still a lot of hope that he could replicate similar form to his Baggies days, but that did not prove to be the case.

Stoke supporters never truly took to his performances, and Gayle surpassed two years without a professional goal before finally netting his first strike for the club in February 2023. He played 50 times for the Potters and scored just three goals in total before being released from his contract early last year.

A move to League One outfit Derby County followed, and he managed to boost their promotion credentials with three goals in six games, while admitting that he had found his love for the game again. His spell on the pitch was cruelly cut short through injury though, and he departed at the end of his contract last summer.

Now 35-years-old, Gayle is in the twilight of his career and playing outside of England for the first time at Scottish Premiership side Hibernian.

While he will be remembered fondly by West Brom supporters for his standout exploits at the club as they returned to the Championship in 2018, it is also fair to say that they were absolutely correct to opt out of signing him on a full-time contract.

He was a good striker in the second-tier, but never actually reached those heights again, and they may well have lost a lot of money if they had shelled out a big fee to sign him that summer and he had not scored a similar number of goals to get them promoted.