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When it comes to robust forwards in the Premier League there aren’t many better than Salomon Rondon.
The striker doesn’t find the net on a regular basis and has failed to come close to matching the 17 strikes he netted in 2014/15 over the last four years.
Yet, he’s still a force to be reckoned with. The Venezuelan scored 11 goals this term on loan at Newcastle. It’s hardly impressive, but it didn’t have to be given his contribution to the team in other areas.
It took Rondon seven games to score his first Newcastle goal after signing temporarily from West Brom. For all the world it looked like he was going to struggle again. But what followed was five strikes in his next eight matches. It was a superb turnaround.
However, despite being inconsistent in front of goal for large parts of the season, he was anything but when it came to aerial duels.
At 6 ft 1, the 29-year-old isn’t the tallest of attackers but his ability to bully defenders and gain an advantage with his physicality is phenomenal.
Over the course of the 2018/19 Premier League campaign, he won 146 aerial duels, winning on average five per game.
It’s a tally that puts him behind just Aleksandar Mitrovic, Steve Mounie, Troy Deeney and Glenn Murray for battles won in the air by out-and-out strikers. Considering Newcastle don’t particularly play long ball football, it’s hugely impressive.
Given his aerial prowess, he’d make a superb addition to the Wolves squad. Last week The Daily Mail claimed that the club had made contact with West Brom for his services.
The player has a £16.5m release clause according to the report and, for the benefit of Nuno Santo’s wing-backs, they have to trigger it.
This season Matt Doherty claimed five assists from the right whilst Jonny only claimed the one from out on the left.
However, if Wolves are able to bring in Rondon, who was able to win as many as nine aerial duels in one game this term, they could be in dreamland.
Raul Jimenez isn’t exactly weak in the air but both Jonny and Doherty could find themselves boasting far greater attacking stats if they have Rondon to aim for with their crosses.
Wolves have been brilliant to watch on the counter-attack this campaign, but they could be about to discover another devastating form of attack.