Possibly, but if we had signed him and Rafa had gone, people would now be slagging Rondon off because he'd still be playing in Steve Bruce's team.
Which would be great if Rondon was actually an option. There was only one place that Rondon would be playing football this season, that is in China. The reason being they offered him 150K a week to do so. Its probably his last contract. I'm sure some are still operating under the mistaken belief that the lure of the PL would be enough to see off the Chinese interest. Not the case, hence Ramires moved from Chelsea there in his peak years. If Chelsea can't prevent it then we certainly can't. I'm not sure why fans keep pissing and moaning about Rondon and Perez. Rondon wasn't even our player, and wasn't a realistic option once the chinese interest materialised. Like Rafa he'll have known about it for months. Perez was agitating for a move when Benitez was here and had a release clause which was met. It simply wasn't realistic for us to retain either option. Its the same with Benitez for me. Already one of the best paid managers in the league and wanted more money. We were not going to be paying more to finish at best 8th but more likely in the mid table mix. Fans just need to accept football for what it is. Money driven.
The issue is we didnt try to sign rondon wjen he wanted to stay and did nothing to keep rafa or perez ... stop taking it up the arse or ashley will never stop. I knew we had gone backwards.
Just playing devil's advocate. If Rafa had stayed and if the Club had moved quickly at the end of last season I would guess we could have had Rondon signed before any interest from China occurred. Perhaps to many "if's" and too much "guesswork" and too much to expect from Penfold and Cashley.
Possibly. However I think it is fairly naive to think Rondon's agent wasn't already hawking him about all season. Nature of the beast when you have no fixed abode. So in terms of beating off the interest from China, it is difficult to believe this was late interest. I respect Rondon because in the interview he gave he said there was no hiding wages were the significant factor. He said he waited to see if Newcastle or West Ham would give him something close to what was available to him but felt Newcastle died when Rafa left and West Ham never firmed up their interest. He spoke about his young family and the security the wage gives him. Mind I do have to say I think he is pissing in the wind with that, I'm pretty sure whether he earned 80k at Newcastle or 150k in China, he'd be ok... You also have to believe Rafa wanted to stay - I think he did but only if Newcastle were going to pay him more. I think Rafa was using the Chinese interest to get more money out of Newcastle. Maybe he'd have been interested if they'd got closer to the China offer. People have to realise though Rafa doubled his wage and became one of the highest paid managers in world football. In any walk of life, if someone is offering you half what another is offering you, its very rare you will stay put. If Newcastle had acquiesced to his demands, I must admit I would have questioned Mike Ashley's sanity. He was already paid a salary befitting the job.
