West Bromwich Albion will be in the Championship next season.
West Bromwich Albion won’t be in the Premier League next season, having lost their Championship play-off semi-final clash with Aston Villa.
The Baggies at least won last night, claiming a 1-0 victory after losing the first leg 2-1, taking the game all the way to penalties.
Jed Steer foiled Mason Holgate and Ahmed Hegazi to send Villa through though, meaning the Baggies have to settle for another season in the Championship.
That means a host of players may be on the move, and it massively impacts the future of striker Salomon Rondon, who has been out on loan at Newcastle United this season.
As noted by The Express and Star, Rondon’s release clause sits at £16.5million in the Championship, but would move to more than £20million if West Brom are in the Premier League.
That isn’t the case now, meaning Newcastle know exactly how much they need to pay to land the Venezuelan permanently, and boss Rafael Benitez will be delighted to hear the price won’t be going up.
That’s not to say he’ll have taken joy from West Brom not going up, but more because there’s more chance of convincing Mike Ashley to sign Rondon permanently at that price, given his age.
Ashley surely wouldn’t have paid more than £20million for Rondon, but £16.5million seems reasonable for a 29-year-old hitman who hit 11 goals and seven assists in the Premier League this past season.
It does mean that other clubs could swoop in to pay the clause, but Newcastle have escaped the problem of the release clause increasing, and must now make their move to sign him permanently.
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