Wolverhampton Wanderers defender Conor Coady has told the Greatest Game podcast that former Newcastle United striker Salomon Rondon is one of the toughest strikers he has ever come up against.
Coady now has a wealth of Premier League experience and has played against some of the world’s leading strikers, but he cannot forget playing against Rondon when he was at Newcastle.
The Venezuelan was a real powerful presence up top at St. James’ Park, when Rafael Benitez was in charge of Newcastle, and Coady said: “The toughest games I’ve had I’ll be honest with you was against Rondon for Newcastle, just because of his physicality and how he holds the ball up.
“People might think ‘I’m not so sure about that’ but, honestly, it was a real tough game when I came up against a player like him.”
Rondon remains a popular figure at Newcastle, although his time on Tyneside was fairly short lived.
Benitez wanted Newcastle to sign the target-man on a permanent deal, but he was never backed to do so, due to the striker’s advancing years.
During his one season at Newcastle, Rondon scored 11 Premier League goals, before going on to sign for Chinese club Dalian Professional, soon after Benitez also made the switch there.
Rondon is now playing for CKSA Moscow on loan, and he continues to hit the back of the net fairly regularly, after scoring four times in nine games for the Russian side.
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