Newcastle United manager Rafael Benitez has revealed that Salomon Rondon is a potential injury doubt after coming off in the clash with Crystal Palace on Saturday.
The Magpies played out a 0-0 draw with the Eagles but the Spanish boss made a surprise change with the Venezuelan coming off at half time in place of Joselu.
Now Benitez has opened up about the status of the 6’1″ (source: Transfermarkt) striker, who is on loan from West Brom, and stated that his removal from the game was as a result of injury, leaving him as a doubt heading into the Magpies’ clash against Leicester City next weekend in what would be a heavy blow.
He told the Chronicle: “He was feeling a bit of tightness in his quad muscle, so we needed to take him out.”
Opinion
Rondon might not have hit the goal scoring trail just yet at Newcastle but he has hardly been given the support and service he needs to be a success on Tyneside. Those behind him have not done enough to get him banging in the goals and things will be even harder for the Magpies now that he is potentially facing a spell on the sidelines. Joselu, as proven last season, is a hard worker but by no means prolific, while nothing has really been seen of Yoshinori Muto, who fans would have certainly hoped to have been given more of a chance to judge. There are no easy games in the Premier League and while a point at Palace might turn out to be decent by the end of the season, Newcastle are still without a win, and the longer that duck remains, the more pressure is going to build on the players from all angles. Things need to change soon, but with Rondon out, Leicester are going to be feeling pretty hopeful about getting a result.