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Factfile: Dwight Gayle
Written by Newcastle Utd
Everything you need to know about Newcastle United's second summer recruit, Dwight Gayle
Everything you need to know about Newcastle United's second summer recruit, Dwight Gayle...
- Dwight Gayle was born in Walthamstow, London, on 17th October, 1990.
- He has two middle names - Devon and Boyd.
- The frontman stands at five feet nine inches, or 175cm, tall.
- He has signed a five-year deal at St. James' Park, which runs until the summer of 2021.
- The forward's first professional club was Arsenal, before he dropped into non-league with Stansted FC in 2009.
- A move into the Football League with Dagenham and Redbridge followed in 2011, and after a prolific loan stint at Bishop's Stortford, Gayle established himself at Victoria Road, bagging seven goals in 20 outings during his first full season in the first team in 2012-13.
- The 25-year-old's form for the Daggers alerted Peterborough United, then a Championship side, and after netting seven goals in just nine appearances in an initial loan spell at London Road the move was made permanent in January 2013.
- A further six goals for the Posh propelled Gayle into the Premier League, with Crystal Palace snapping him up in July 2013.
- The diminutive striker's goal against Aston Villa in December 2013 won Crystal Palace's Goal of the Season award.
- Gayle has finished as Palace's leading goalscorer during each of his three seasons at Selhurst Park, scoring 25 times over the course of the past three top flight campaigns.
- He became the first Palace player to seal a hat-trick of consecutive leading goalscorer accolades since Andy Johnson a decade previously.
- Gayle's first taste of the atmosphere at St. James' Park came in a 3-3 Premier League draw in August 2014, when he opened the scoring for the Eagles.
- And the Magpies' second recruit of the summer also managed to get himself on the scoresheet against his new employers in United's eventual 3-2 Capital One Cup victory after extra time at Selhurst Park. Gayle once again opened the scoring in that encounter in September 2014, netting from the spot after Daryl Janmaat had brought down Wilfried Zaha.