West Ham United should be ready to move for Salomon Rondon now.
As if it wasn’t bad enough that Newcastle United fans are having to deal with Rafael Benitez’s exit, they may have to put up with missing out on Salomon Rondon too.
Newcastle confirmed earlier today that manager Benitez is leaving the club when his contract expires on Sunday, representing an absolute disaster for the Magpies.
They must now go out and find a new manager, which is far from ideal with the transfer window heating up, and Benitez’s exit may just rule them out of the Rondon race.
The Chronicle recently noted that Rondon – who thrived on loan at Newcastle last season – was holding out to join the Magpies permanently provided Benitez stayed.
The same report claimed that West Ham had been in preliminary talks to sign Rondon, whilst The Northern Echo stated that the Hammers are prepared to pay his £16.5million release clause at West Brom.
Boss Manuel Pellegrini loves Rondon having not only managed him at Malaga, but also lauded him to Tony Pulis in 2015 (Guardian), and West Ham need strikers having let Lucas Perez and Andy Carroll go.
It seems like the perfect fit, and having essentially put West Ham on the back burner until he knew what the future held for Benitez, the Hammers must now make their move for the Venezuelan hitman.
They can force West Brom to sell whilst paying that clause, and with Newcastle no longer in the way, they have been gifted the golden chance to reunite Pellegrini with Rondon.
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