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Stoke City have earmarked the signing of Newcastle United striker Dwight Gayle as part of a major overhaul to win promotion back to the Premier League.

Owners Peter and John Coates have outlined their bitter disappointment at relegation after 10 years back in the top flight – and their commitment to restoring the club to that level as soon as possible.

That will involve a mass turnaround in playing staff this summer, with key men including Xherdan Shaqiri, Badou Ndiaye and Jack Butland expected to attract vultures, particularly if they impress at the World Cup in Russia.

But a £40m hit from falling into the Championship does not mean Stoke will have to accept all offers and there is hope player-of-the-year contender Joe Allen will stay to spearhead a new era.

(Image: Julian Finney/Getty Images)

They will try to offload Kevin Wimmer, Saido Berahino, Giannelli Imbula and Maxim Choupo-Moting while Glen Johnson and Stephen Ireland are out of contract, Kurt Zouma and Kostas Stafylidis will return to their parent clubs and Ibrahim Afellay and Jesé are already out of the door.

A joint statement from Peter and John Coates admits errors in the transfer market and hints they should have sacked Mark Hughes sooner but stresses the value the family continue to put on loyalty.

It did not - with one game of the season remaining - put in black and white the future of Hughes’s successor Paul Lambert, chief executive Tony Scholes and recruitment chief Mark Cartwright.

The statement reads: “Hindsight is a wonderful vantage point, however, it is clear that significant errors were made in the transfer market.

“Unfortunately the squad became unbalanced and perhaps we lost some of the core values that have served us so well and are so crucial when you have a bad spell.

“It is absolutely clear that a major overhaul is required. We need to regain our identity and focus and the summer will be spent doing this.”

(Image: Serena Taylor/Newcastle United via Getty Images)

Gayle, aged 28, helped Newcastle win immediate promotion to the Premier League after completing a £10m move from Crystal Palace at the start of last season. He scored 23 times in 34 games as Rafa Benitez guided the side to the Championship title.

But he has been a fringe player this year in a mid-table finish, making 21 league starts and scoring five. He has already been linked with a move to Fulham but Benitez, who is still waiting on assurances about his transfer kitty, will want to bring in a centre-forward himself before sanctioning an exit.

Lambert has already made clear that he would like to bring in two new strikers if he gets the nod to remain in charge past this weekend’s final game at Swansea.

He has held the reins since January and has moved to restore squad discipline and make the team more difficult to beat – but has only won one of 14 games.

Peter and John Coates wrote: “It is right that supporters will question whether we should have made a managerial change sooner.

“As a family we are inherently loyal people and this loyalty has served us well in business.

“We will always give people that little bit longer than most to prove themselves and this will continue. However, this does not mean that we always make the correct call and again with hindsight, we perhaps should have made an earlier change.

“Our core focus is now on the future. We are absolutely committed to continue, along with Denise, our significant emotional and financial commitment to this club. We will be doing everything we can to help us secure a return to the top flight of English football as soon as possible.

“We absolutely understand that this is going to be a great challenge and we cannot offer any guarantees. However, please be assured that we will do all we can to work with everybody at the club to assemble a squad that can make us all proud again.”