Jamie Redknapp has hailed Newcastle United striker Salomon Rondon after he brought St James’ Park to its feet at the weekend.
Writing in his weekly Daily Mail column, the high-profile pundit and former England midfielder emphasised the “brilliant” contribution from Rondon as Rafael Benitez’s side secured their second consecutive win.
Rondon scored both Newcastle goals as he opened his Premier League tally for the club he joined on loan in the summer and one in particular blew Redknapp away.
“What a brilliant, old-fashioned centre forward’s header from Salomon Rondon for Newcastle against Bournemouth,” Redknapp told the Mail. “Using his strength to outmuscle Nathan Ake, he flung himself at the ball to fire his team to victory.
“Finally, it looks like they have a player who can make the most of Matt Ritchie’s pinpoint crosses.”
OPINION
Strong, able and willing, Rondon is a muscular forward of the type Benitez has favoured for much of his career. The Venezuela international is hard working, too, and will back-track in a way that Aleksandar Mitrovic, sold to Fulham over the summer, appeared unwilling or unable to. The big question mark over Rondon has been, will he score enough goals? Is he actually better than Dwight Gayle, who has inevitably been prolific at West Brom following the summer swap with Rondon? Certainly, Gayle would not have scored the header that the Magpies’ current line-leader did on Saturday. It provided the most emphatic answer yet to the critics of the 69-times international, who earned the respect of so many opponents during his seasons leading the West Brom line but has barely received any praise since his summer move. Fully fit now after injuries restricted his early-season progress, Newcastle will now hope Rondon can lead their resurgence and catapult them up the table and well away from the relegation danger zone.