When we talk about missing your last chance, we don’t often mean it in a very literal sense. But as Everton striker Salomon Rondon failed to connect with a loose ball inside the Aston Villa penalty area during the final stages of Saturday’s 2-1 defeat in the Midlands, it was tempting to wonder if this was the last we would see of him in a Toffees kit.
Yes, credit must go to Tyrone Mings for that last-gasp, as-good-as-a-goal challenge. But would a quicker, younger more alert centre-forward have got their first?
Pace has never really been one of Rondon’s attributes. But at 32 and after a couple of years in China, the Rondon we are now seeing at Everton is merely a fading shadow of the one who led the line so effectively under Rafael Benitez at Newcastle United.
Salomon Rondon out, Serhou Guirassy in at Everton?
It’s telling that, even after he returned from suspension, Frank Lampard opted to utilise Anthony Gordon through the middle, rather than throw Rondon in at the deep end against Aston Villa. And after that most frustrating of 2-1 defeats – making it zero points from a possible six so far – Lampard indicated that the writing was on the wall for a man who’s picked up as many red cards as he’s scored Premier League goals for Everton.
“Dominic (Calvert-Lewin, Everton’s first-choice striker) has been injured for two weeks, and it is a five or six week injury,” Lampard tells the Liverpool Echo. “So we have to have a bit of perspective.
“We’re not going to be foolish on that part. We are going to try and find the right player that can maybe help us in the short-term but, in the long-term, complement the fact that we have Dominic at the club. We just have to assess all those things.”
In other words, Lampard wants a striker who can step in for Calvert-Lewin until he is back to full fitness. A striker who would also be willing to provide support for the England international once he returns to selection. A number two, capable of fighting for the number one spot.
So, enter Serhou Guirassy.
A £15 million deal close for Everton
Tall, strong in the air and a real physical presence at 6ft 2ins, Guirassy ticks plenty of boxes as far as Lampard is concerned; A coach who has his Everton side set up to get the best out of a rangy number nine. At 26, the £15 million-rated Guinean – who plies his trade in Ligue 1 for Rennes – is younger, quicker and more agile than Rondon. Similar players, yes, but players at alternative ends of their careers.
Would he have nicked in ahead of Mings, converted from close range, and snatched a point at Villa Park?
“It was a choice,” Rennes coach Bruno Genesio told Ouest France on Sunday; Explaining why Guirassy was left out of his squad for the 1-1 draw with Monaco.
The former Amiens forward was not injured, just unavailable. With L’Equipe claiming that Everton are ‘getting closer’ to reaching an agreement – Guirassy is keen on a move to Goodison Park – it seems Rennes fans have seen the last of him.
But have Everton fans seen the last of Rondon?
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