By Alexis Monteith/Contributor

Jamaican international Paige Bailey-Gayle is leaving Newcastle United Women after only four months at the club.

The football outfit , which won promotion to the English Women’s Championship (the second tier of women’s football in England) this season, recently published a list of 11 out-of-contract players which included the 22-year-old centre forward.

Bailey-Gayle joined the club from Crystal Palace in late January in a downward transfer from the Women’s Championship to the FA Women’s National League Northern Premier Division (the third tier of English women’s football). However, the move made sense as Newcastle had been promoted to the third tier the previous year and was on a steady march towards promotion to the Women’s Championship this year, a feat they achieved in April making it back-to-back promotions.

With the club’s wealthy Saudi ownership hell-bent on getting the women’s team to the highest level of English women’s football, the Women’s Super League, as well as the European Women’s Champions League as quickly as possible, the transfer was smart for Bailey-Gayle as she could tie herself to an ambitious club that had the resources to achieve its objectives.

Things started swimmingly after she signed to Newcastle in late January and scored a brace in a 3-0 win over Wolves Women. In her second game she scored against Burnley and in her third she found the net against Derby County, bringing her tally to four goals in her first three games.

Four games later, on March 31, Bailey-Gayle scored a hat-trick in a 5-1 win over Liverpool Feds. But that was the last time she would score for Newcastle United Women in the league and her tally remained at seven league goals until the end of the season in May. Perhaps that could account, at least in part, for her time at the club coming to an end.

The Reggae Girl is a product of the Arsenal Women academy and made her senior debut for the Gunners in November 2018 against Everton Women. She would go on to play for Leicester City and Crystal Palace in the Championship before making her way to Newcastle.

The young talent represented England at the Under-17 and Under-18 levels before representing Jamaica and travelling to the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand as part of the senior team. Bailey-Gayle was also called up for Jamaica’s recent matches in Brazil, where the Reggae Girlz lost 0-4 twice to the South American nation in back-to-back games.

Newcastle United Women issued a statement from Head Coach Becky Langley regarding the 11 released players.

“I want to thank the players for the part they have played in our journey,” the message said. “They have contributed to some incredible moments and memories, and we simply couldn’t have made the rapid progress we have without them. We wish the girls the best of luck with the next step in their careers.”