Newcastle have stepped up their interest their interest in West Brom striker Salomon Rondon, according to the Sun.
They claim that this should have an instant knock-on effect with Aleksandar Mitrovic moving to Premier League rivals Fulham.
The Sun reports that Benitez has “made the first move” and has opened talks with West Brom over a deal for the 6ft 1in Venezuela striker who has a £16million release clause.
Benitez sees Rondon as the perfect striker for the way he wants to play football next season, acting as a target man who Ayoze Perez, Kenedy and Matt Ritchie can feed off.
He wants to line the deals up so both Rondon and Mitrovic go through at the same time.
OPINION
Does anyone really think that Salomon Rondon is any better than Mitrovic? If Benitez has a weakness in the transfer market – aside from the obvious lack of money – it’s his inability to identify good striker targets and/or get the most of the ones he’s got. Mitrovic was sensational for Fulham last season and they think he’s good enough to pay £20million for in the Premier League. There’s obviously something between Mitrovic and Benitez but that’s not for the best of the club. Rondon has never scored goals in any meaningful quantity and strikers rarely change their scoring habits merely by switching clubs – look at Danny Welbeck for another fine example. (Although even Welbeck would surely be better than Rondon). We hope we’re wrong for Newcastle sake but we can’t see Rondon as being anything but another mistake on the level of Joselu. He’s certainly not the man most Newcastle fans would have been looking forward to welcoming this summer as their salvation.
