The statistics suggest that West Bromwich Albion’s Salomon Rondon might not be the striker Rafa Benitez is hoping to sign for Newcastle United.
Rafa Benitez has made signing a striker for Newcastle United who can score “10 or 15 goals a season” a priority this summer.
The Magpies have not broken their club transfer record for 13 years after buying Michael Owen from Real Madrid for £16m in 2005 but Benitez thinks that will have to change if they want a decent forward to lead the line.
“If you want to bring in a striker with a guarantee of more than ten or 15 goals a season, then you have to pay money for him, for sure,” the Spaniard told the Northern Echo.
“More than £16m? In this market, yes.”
Who to sign?
At first glance it seems Benitez could about to be proven wrong, with Newcastle linked with a move for West Bromwich Albion’s Salomon Rondon by the Northern Echo. The 28-year-old has a release clause of £16m following the Baggies’ relegation from the Premier League.
Yet when looking at Rondon’s statistics since arriving in English football in 2015 after being bought by West Brom from Zenit St Petersburg, perhaps he remains correct.
That is because despite having a decent reputation in the game, the Venezuela international has never scored more than 10 goals in a campaign for the West Midlands side and never more than nine in the league.
In fact Rondon’s record at the Hawthorns of 28 strikes in 120 games makes for pretty poor reading and while stats don’t always tell the whole story, does the South American have the potential to become the leading scorer that Benitez wants?
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