The Expert: Battering ram Rondon is West Brom's archetypal striker
It was at the Copa America in Argentina in 2011 that Salomon Rondon first came to prominence. There, as Venezuela reached the semi-finals, he often played as the lone front man, selflessly leading the line many miles in front of the midfield, his role to hold the ball up for Miku, the most advanced midfielder, but mainly to chase everything and to use his strength to win free-kicks and throw-ins. It’s easy to see why Tony Pulis would like the look of him.
Rondon is almost the prototype of a Pulis forward; big and strong, quick enough and a decent finisher. More than that, he has a ferocious work ethic, something he has suggested is the product of a tough childhood in Caracas. Others, though, have grown up in poverty without having Pulis complain of having to drag them off the training pitch. Rondon made his debut in the Venezuelan league at 17, moved to Las Palmas at 19 and, two years later, in 2010, was signed by Malaga. Two years after that, he became the most expensive Venezuelan in history, joining Rubin Kazan for £8m and two years after that he went to Zenit.
It was while he was there that Rondon was brought to Pulis’ attention by Andre Villas-Boas, who had just led Zenit St. Petersburg to the Russian title. Rondon had scored 13 goals, the second-highest tally in the league, but Villas-Boas had been told that Vladimir Putin, or at least his advisors, wanted a greater focus on home-grown players to try to encourage development before the 2018 World Cup.
Zenit at the time had nine foreign players, so that meant some had to be offloaded. With the emergence of the hulking Russian striker Artem Dzyuba after two years on loan at Rostov, Rondon became expendable and was sold for £12m. Last season he did perfectly well, scoring nine goals and setting up two, but this season he looks even more at home and has got seven goals and two assists already, with almost half the season still to play. That includes his hat-trick of headers in the 3-1 win over Swansea last month.
“He’s been fantastic for us this year - it took him a while to settle in,” Pulis told the Birmingham Mail. “But he’s come back this year and his family is more settled. Everything around him with the social scene is much more settled. He’s grown with the group, he speaks better English, his children are settled in school, his wife’s happier so everything around him has settled down.
“He’s been able to concentrate and focus on his football. Sometimes we expect people to come into the country and hit the ground running when it’s completely different to what they’re used to. Whether it’s the weather, the games, the competitiveness of the Premier League, it’s different and you have got to give players time to settle.”
Rondon’s shots per game are up from 2.1 to 2.6, he is dribbling more and winning the same number of aerials. He’s also getting fouled 30% more, which might not be the first statistic you look at, but which is important for a player who is often left isolated and has to hold possession however he can. Considering West Brom have mastered the set-piece goal this season, scoring 12 from these situations, this is a bonus to Pulis. Tackles are up this season and interceptions slightly down, but that’s not really his game. West Brom are not a team that presses high. They sit deep and go long and Rondon’s energies are best expended chasing vertical passes rather than charging around without much support looking to win the ball back.
At 27, he perhaps has one more move in him, and it would be a surprise if larger clubs than West Brom haven’t been paying attention. But sometimes a player is such a perfect fit for a club that it makes sense to stay where he is. Rondon is not, perhaps, a player of the very highest quality, but his attributes are perfect for West Brom.
