Norwich City could turn to Dwight Gayle in their pursuit of a striker this summer according to a report in the Daily Mail.

Norwich City could turn to Dwight Gayle in their pursuit of a striker this summer according to a report in the Daily Mail.

After baulking at being told to pay the £7m fee agreed last summer in the loan deal to sign Jordan Rhodes from Sheffield Wednesday, City could target the Newcastle forward.

The 28-year-old spent last season at West Bromwich Albion as part of a loan swap deal that saw Salomon Rondon join Newcastle.

He scored 24 goals for the Baggies, who saw their promotion hopes ended by Aston Villa in the play-off semi-final on penalties. Gayle missed the second leg after seeing red in the first leg at Villa Park.

MORE: Grant Holt's special goodbye to Norwich CityWest Brom have decided against making the move permanent with technical director Luke Dowling saying the Baggies aren't in a position to pay Gayle's "Premier League contract".

"We will pay Premier League contracts but only when we are back in the Premier League," Dowling told BBC WM. "I know it won't be the news Albion fans want to hear, but they need to trust us and know we are doing everything right for this football club."

Gayle doesn't appear to have any future on Tyneside with manager Rafa Benitez keen to turn Rondon's loan deal into a permanent one.

Verdict

Gayle has made it known to his agent he wants another chance in the Premier League and Norwich can obviously offer this. If Sheffield Wednesday maintain their stance over Rhodes then Gayle could become an option although he will cost more than the £7m quoted for the Owls striker. City have a small budget of around £20m this summer but are willing to spend a fair chunk of this on another striker to challenge Teemu Pukki for a starting berth. Gayle has shown in the past that he can cut it in the Premier League with Crystal Palace and has scored goals wherever he's been. Norwich were in the running to sign Gayle in the summer of 2016 but the forward plumped for Newcastle instead of the Canaries.