West Ham United are planning to raid relegated Premier League outfit West Bromwich Albion to sign striker Salomon Rondon.
Salomon Rondon might have found goals a little hard to come by in his Premier League career so far, but the new West Ham United manager Manuel Pellegrini knows the Venezuelan target man is capable of far more.
Rondon honed his trade under Pellegrini as a young striker at Malaga between 2010 and 2012, forging a reputation as one of the most promising young forwards in South American football. In fact, the 6ft 1ins target man enjoyed the most prolific season of his career under the veteran manager in the 2010/11 season, netting a career best 14 league goals.
11 in his next season meant he scored 25 in 67 La Liga matches for Malaga – one more than he has netted in 108 Premier League games for West Brom.
So, amid reports in the Mirror that West Ham could trigger the £16 million relegation clause in his Baggies’ contract, it is worth looking back at what Pellegrini said about Rondon during their time together at the Rosaleda.
“From the outset he’s always shown willingness to evolve and learn day after day. He’s still at that stage where he has a long way to go, but it is a privilege to have him in the team,” the former Real Madrid and Manchester City boss said back in 2012, as reported by FourFourTwo.
West Brom were hardly a side renowned for creating chance after chance, so it would be interesting to see how much more effective Rondon could be in a West Ham side boasting the attacking talents of Marko Arnautovic, Manuel Lanzini, Michail Antonio and co.
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