OPINION
Newcastle United must replace the outgoing Aleksandar Mitrovic with Russian World Cup star Artem Dzyuba.
Newcastle have been linked with a number of players to replace the Serbian striker, who as reported by The Telegraph, is likely to leave the club to go to newly-promoted Fulham this summer.
The latest striker linked, as reported by The Sun, is West Bromwich Albion striker Salomon Rondon. The report suggests that the club will have to pay £16.5million to secure the Venezuelan’s signature, who was relegated from the Premier League with The Baggies last season.
However, the 28-year-old is worth nowhere near that and should not even be in Rafael Benitez’s wishlist this summer. He’s only scored a total of 28 goals in 120 appearances for the West Midlands club, which is a really poor record (TransferMarkt).
Hopefully, Benitez has been watching the 2018 World Cup in Russia because if he did, he’d have seen the brilliant performances of Russian target-man Artem Dzyuba. He would be a much better fit for the club and would be much more effective than Rondon.
The giant 6ft 4in striker (TransferMarkt) is excellent at holding the ball up for his teammates, is a real aerial threat in the box but is also better with his feet than his frame would have you believe.
The 29-year-old’s pass for Denis Cheryshev’s goal against Croatia in the WC quarter-final was outstanding, even though it wasn’t a difficult pass, the weight of the pass allowed his teammate to take the ball in his stride and unleash a brilliant shot. That was a brilliant example of what a target-man can provide a team.
With a team built towards his strength and a manager that trusts him, Dzyuba can produce some excellent goalscoring stats. He’s got 39 goals in 102 appearances for Zenit St. Petersburg (TransferMarkt), which is a very good record for a target-man whose main job is to hold the ball up.
Rafael Benitez should steer clear of Rondon and go for Dyzuba, the stats speak for themselves.
