Salomon Rondon admits that he didn’t score enough goals at West Brom – should that worry Newcastle fans?
Salomon Rondon has opened up about his three years at West Bromwich Albion and that his overall goal return should perhaps have been better.
Rondon joined Newcastle United on loan this summer, with Dwight Gayle heading the other way to the Hawthorns, after first signing for the Baggies from Zenit St Petersburg in 2015.
The Venezuela international ended with a tally of 24 goals in 120 appearances for the Baggies and the striker has admitted he maybe should have scored more.
“If you are a striker, the most important thing is to score goals,” Rondon told the Shields Gazette.
“I know my stats, and maybe they have not been really, really high, but everyone knows that I was playing at West Brom. In my first season, I scored 10 goals. Maybe that didn’t make everybody really happy, but it was also difficult.
“I tried to be focused and tried to score goals, although it wasn’t enough in my opinion. If you are a striker, you want to score 15, 20 goals, and it wasn’t like that, but I was happy anyway.”
A worry for Newcastle?
Rondon appears to suggest that playing for West Brom perhaps hindered his tally and there could well be some truth in that, with former manager Tony Pulis favouring a defensive approach that somewhat stifled creativity in attack.
That said, despite finishing rock bottom of the Premier League last season the West Midlands side only scored eight fewer goals than the Magpies in 10th.
Aside from the relegated trio, only three other teams in the English top flight found the back of the net on fewer occasions than the Rafa Benitez’s men in 2017/18, suggesting that perhaps they too favour a defensive approach.
It may be a new start for Rondon at St James’ Park, but he could face the same old problems and that may be a worry for the Toon faithful.
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