Would Newcastle United be having a better season with Duvan Zapata up front instead of Salomon Rondon?
Newcastle United are very happy with Salomon Rondon this season, and rightly so.
The West Brom loanee, who has five goals in 15 Premier League starts, has been a big hit with fans of the St James’s Park club.
He wasn’t on the scoresheet, but Rondon, who joined the Magpies in August, was an absolute nuisance for Newcastle in Saturday’s 3-0 win over Cardiff City on Tyneside.
But would Rafael Benitez’s have been better this season had they signed Duvan Zapata instead?
The Colombia international was linked with a move to Newcastle last summer [Secolo XIX] and it’s clear that he would’ve been a fantastic addition – and better than the Venezuelan.
Now with Atalanta, the 27-year-old is leading the charge for Serie A’s Golden Boot award after netting four goals in this afternoon’s 5-0 win away to Frosinone.
Astonishingly, Zapata, who is only on loan with the top-flight side, has 13 goals in his last seven games for the Italian outfit.
He is a similar type of striker as Rondon but, crucially, it seems like he is that bit more lethal where it counts.
Newcastle might win their relegation battle with Rondon, who was presumably signed after Zapata became unavailable, but would they have been in the same trouble had Benitez got the Colombian instead? We’ll never know, but going by his goals, potentially not.
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