November 29 2014

Dwight Gayle (Photo: Andy Roberts)

Striker Dwight Gayle is coming good right now. He's on the goal trail again and he's winning his manager's praise for his all round game, writes Roland Mortimer.

It's no wonder Gayle has been told he's 'too important' to be allowed to go out on loan. Wolves were said to have enquired recently only to be knocked back fairly sharply by Neil Warnock who clearly sees a bright first team future for the 24 year old.

In fact, all the signs are that Gayle's career is set to really take off this season.

One of the things that has marked Gayle out ever since he left Arsenal's development squad as a teenager is the way people have talked about him.

Peterborough's Darren Ferguson said of him, "He listens. He picks up things quickly, which is always a sign of a good player. He's going to be a really good player".

Neil Warnock clearly thinks so too - he's put him on a four year deal.

One of the impressive things about Gayle is his patience and his poise under pressure - remember his first goal against Sunderland? It was coolly converted from the penalty spot.

You get the impression that Gayle has the cool, calculating makings of a poker player, never mind a footballer.

It's taken him a while to grind his way through the lower leagues with Dagenham and Redbridge, Bishop's Stortford and Peterborough - just like poker superstar Daniel Negreanu had to chisel his way through his early career in small-town games of poker before he was able to take his talent to the big time.

As it turns, out Gayle and Negreanu have a lot more in common than one might have originally thought, which leads us to believe that Gayle is most certainly on the path to legendary status.

Gayle's progress through the non-league ranks can be compared to Negreanu's early career in the pool rooms and casinos of Toronto. Gayle's Premier League breakthrough is similar to Negreanu's move to Las Vegas at the age of 23 where he made a splash on the poker scene.

It's a career take-off that is the perfect model for someone like Gayle right now. He has the same level-headed maturity, the same natural talent, the same sure-footedness under pressure and the same relentless ambition to take his game to the very highest level, just as Negreanu has; he is now the highest earning tournament poker player of all time.

What’s more, we know he’s quite keen on La Vegas! Last season’s end of season break in the good old US of A’s gambling capital saw Gayle, Barry Bannan and Jerome Thomas headlined in the Daily Mail - no less - for their 'post season party among bikini-clad girls.'

The paper didn't mention whether they'd played any poker on the Vegas strip - they were more interested in the party.

One other similarity that Gayle shares with Negreanu is his propensity to leave his opponents crying into the night. The tears shed by Luis Suarez after Gayle's late winner broke the Argentinian's - and Liverpool's - hearts last season are not going to be the last bitter tears dropped in the wake of the Eagles' young goal machine.

He did it to Liverpool again this November. Similarly, Negreanu has also built a career on other people’s misery. His career winnings top $29 million - that’s $29 million of other people's money!

Those numbers suggest it is a foolish man or woman who would bet against Daniel Negreanu when the chips are down, and Neil Warnock, Duncan Ferguson and Wolves' Kenny Jacket and the supporters of Liverpool football club are not the only people who think the same way about Dwight Devon Boyd Gayle.

Don't be surprised if he turns out to be Palace's ace in the deck this season.