Newcastle United should seal the loan signing of West Brom striker Salomon Rondon on Monday (6 August) after seeing him complete his medical on Sunday, according to Sky Sports reporter Keith Downie.
The broadcast journalist, who is the north east England reporter for Sky Sports, claims on his personal Twitter account that the Venezuelan hitman has completed the necessary tests on Tyneside and is expected to put pen to paper over a season-long temporary move to St James’ Park less than a week before the Magpies kick off their Premier League campaign.
Salomon Rondon should complete his season-long loan to Newcastle tomorrow after taking his medical today.
— Keith Downie (@SkySports_Keith) August 5, 2018
The Baggies striker will join Yoshinori Muto and Kenedy as bolstering Rafael Benitez’s options in attack this summer, with Martin Dubravka, Ki Seung Yung and Fabian Schar also joining.
Opinion
The Magpies have left it awfully late to get the striker that they so desperately needed at the start of summer, and Benitez will be hoping that the delay to his capture does not hinder his ability to integrate into the first team on Tyneside. Joselu simply did not have the cutting edge to put the opposition to the sword, while it seems Dwight Gayle is set to switch places with Rondon at the Hawthorns. That just leaves the Spaniard, the untested Muto and the West Brom forward as the options to lead the line against Tottenham when they visit St James’ Park next Sunday in a repeat of last season’s opener for the two sides. Can Newcastle perform better than they did against the north Londoners a year ago? So long as another injury crisis does not strike, and Jonjo Shelvey does not go stamping on anyone, they must consider themselves in wit ha chance, especially with Spurs having missed so many international stars during pre-season.