WEST BROMWICH ALBION have ruled out making a permanent move for Dwight Gayle as they cannot afford the Newcastle United striker’s wages in the wake of their failure to win promotion.

Gayle has been a huge success at the Hawthorns this season, with his 24 Championship goals spearheading the Baggies’ run to the play-offs.

He blotted his copybook somewhat in the play-off semi-finals, with his first-leg dismissal against Aston Villa contributing to West Brom’s failure to make the final, but is still an extremely popular figure amongst his team-mates in the West Midlands and the Baggies fans.

Rafael Benitez has long conceded that Gayle does not form part of his long-term plans, and even if there was to be a change of manager at St James’ Park this summer, it is hard to imagine the 28-year-old playing a central role in Newcastle’s Premier League line-up last season.

The Newcastle hierarchy had hoped West Brom would agree to a permanent transfer this summer, and had been considering using the forward as part of a deal for Salomon Rondon, whose £16.5m release clause means he is all-but-certain to be leaving the Hawthorns on a permanent basis.

However, even if West Brom did not have to pay a particularly high fee for Gayle, the club’s technical director, Luke Dowling, has conceded they will not be able to afford his weekly wage. As a result, Dowling has ruled out any chance of Gayle re-joining the Baggies.

“We can all recognise what he gives us on the pitch and the way he conducts himself off the pitch in the local area – he’s brought his family down from Newcastle for the year, he’s bought into everything we want to do,” said the West Brom chief.

“Financially, we were prepared to pay the money for Dwight’s contract for this season. It hasn’t worked out (because West Brom failed to make it to the Premier League).

“Dwight’s contract is a Premier League contract and we will pay Premier League contracts, but we’ll only do that once we’re back in the Premier League. I know it won’t be the news Albion fans want to hear, but they need to trust us and know we’re doing everything right for this club.

“We don’t want to keep players on big contracts and have to lay the general staff off and make people redundant. We want to keep everyone here because we’ve got good people behind the scenes.”

Dowling’s stance also means West Brom will be abandoning any interest in Jacob Murphy, who has also spent the current campaign on loan at the Hawthorns.

Murphy has had a disappointing season, starting just eight Championship matches, and West Brom have no desire to sign him permanently.

As things stand, both Gayle and Murphy are due to report for the start of Newcastle’s pre-season training on July 4, although Newcastle officials will hope other Championship clubs make a move for the pair in the next month-and-a-half.