OPINION
With reports linking Newcastle United with a bid for Real Sociedad striker Willian Jose, they should have signed him instead of Salomon Rondon.
The Toon confirmed the loan signing of West Brom striker Rondon on their official Twitter account.
CONFIRMED: @salorondon23 joins Newcastle United on loan!@dwightgayle moves to @WBA on loan as part of the deal.
Full details: https://t.co/7PQdLR3QzY #NUFC #RonDONE pic.twitter.com/sc6SpghctC
— Newcastle United FC (@NUFC) August 6, 2018
The move also saw Toon striker Dwight Gayle move to The Hawthorns as part of the temporary deal.
As reported by Marca, the Magpies made a bid for La Liga forward William Jose, who has a £58million release clause at the Basque club. Fellow PL side Fulham also reportedly had a bid rejected, with Chelsea the latest club to supposedly show an interest.
The giant Brazilian, who stands at 6’2″ (source: Transfermarkt) would have been a much better signing for the Toon and they have made a major blunder by signing Rondon instead.
They are very similar strikers, both very physically strong, able to hold the ball up and are experts at attacking the ball in the air, both good examples of the old-fashioned target man.
However, the 26-year-old is much more effective in front of goal and offers more to the overall team play than the Venezualan.
The former Real Zaragoza striker has scored an impressive 34 goals in 74 games at his current club, also registering eight assists.
When you compare that with Rondon’s record of just 20 goals in 120 games, with 10 assists, you can clearly see the difference between the two strikers in terms of output.
That is dispite the Sociedad striker playing at a higher level than Rondon, with the Basque club regularly challenging for European places and mid-table finishes, rather than fighting relegation year on year as the 29-year-old did at Albion.
The fact that they’ve also had to let their best striker Dwight Gayle go to the Baggies in return, compounds the sheer stupidity of this deal, they’ve effectively gone through all this trouble just to make their team worse.
Willian Jose is a much better player, the signing of Rondon has made them weaker, not stronger.
