Malaga were desperate to bring Salomon Rondon back to Spain before the striker returned to the Premier League and Everton, sporting director Manolo Gaspar has told Malaga Hoy.
It was a transfer that, on paper, just made sense.
Everton needed a striker to provide some much-needed cover for the talismanic Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
And 6ft 1in Rondon not only offered the same penalty-area presence, he also arrived at Goodison Park with the trust of Benitez and a proven track record in the Premier League.
The Colombia international scored 11 top-flight goals under ‘Rafa the Gaffer’ during his final season at Newcastle United in 2018/19.
And while Rondon has hardly hit the ground running in Merseyside – questions have already been raised about his fitness – it was always likely the veteran target man would need some time to get up to speed after a couple of years in China.
When fit and firing, Rondon could be a valuable addition to a squad with as much depth as a throwaway Netflix thriller.
Malaga miss out as Salomon Rondon looks to make his mark at Everton
“I tried, by all means, but there was no chance. We are light years away,” acknowledges Gaspar, admitting his Malaga side failed to agree a deal with a striker who enjoyed the most prolific league campaign of his career at La Rosaleda a decade ago.
“(The club is) in the second division trying to be reborn. We made the consultations (about Rondon).
“In the end, we can (only) aspire to what we can aspire to.”
A Malaga side boasting the likes of Santi Cazorla, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Isco, Joaquin and Martin Demichelis finished in the vertigo-inducing heights of fourth place during Rondon’s final La Liga season in Andalusia.
How times have changed.
Ten years on, that very same club is closer to the third tier of Spanish football than it is to the first. Major financial problems led to the sudden collapse of a side that came within seconds of securing a place in the Champions League semi-finals as recently as 2013.
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