Spurs replacing Fernando Llorente with Salomon Rondon makes no sense

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Tottenham Hotspur are reportedly amongst the Premier League sides interested in signing Salomon Rondon this summer.

According to a report from the Daily Mirror, Tottenham are amongst the group of teams interested in signing Salomon Rondon from West Brom this summer as Mauricio Pochettino seemingly looks to bolster his striker options during the coming months.

While Harry Kane has enjoyed another lethal year in the Premier League, Pochettino has had to face up to a very familiar problem with the Spurs talisman’s understudy struggling to contribute a fair share of goals.

After the likes of Roberto Soldado and Vincent Janssen, Fernando Llorente was signed last summer after a superb year with Swansea where he scored 15 goals to keep the Swans in the top flight. Unfortunately for the 33-year-old, one goal in 16 Premier League appearances for Spurs – admittedly, he made just one league start in that time – has left many hoping that the club offload the Spaniard in the summer.

But those same fans are unlikely to feel any happier when they hear that Spurs are reportedly in the race to sign Rondon, who the Mirror reports will cost £16 million following West Brom’s relegation to the Championship.

Like Llorente in the year before his £14 million move to Tottenham – fee reported by The Telegraph – Rondon has spent the entire campaign battling near the bottom of the table with the Baggies finishing 20th in the division despite a late flurry of positive results. Rondon was one of those who emerged from the season with some credit, having provided 10 goals in all competitions.

Rondon is considerably younger than Llorente so Pochettino may be considering the change with one eye on the longer-term picture, but there is surely little reason to consider replacing the current Spurs ace with the Venezuelan.

Rondon’s Premier League record is underwhelming, having scored 24 goals in 108 games. He would potentially boast a better strike-rate at Spurs given that Pochettino’s side would create a lot more chances for the 28-year-old, but Llorente’s fortunes at Wembley prove that that is certainly no guarantee.

And with the Spaniard struggling with the step up to Spurs off the back of a considerably better season than the one that Rondon has just endured, Daniel Levy should perhaps not expect a particularly positive reaction if his potential replacement ends up being the West Brom striker who seems to perhaps tick even fewer boxes.