According to the Chronicle’s Lee Ryder, Rafa Benitez has lined up loan deals for a ‘couple of Premier League strikers‘ as a back up plan incase a permanent move for Salomon Rondon fails to come off.
With Aleksandar Mitrovic now said to be ‘closing in’ on a move to Fulham, the Chronicle stated yesterday that this ‘should’ now enable us to sign Rondon – with us expected to finally meet his £16.5m release clause once we receive £20m for the Serbian.
It’s proof of the ‘sell before you buy’ approach, however nothing’s done yet and it sounds like Rafa’s got a few back up options in mind – and I don’t blame him given our reliability when it comes to finalising transfer deals.
Lee Ryder said the following on our interest in Rondon during a Q&A on the Chronicle’s site, revealing that Rafa has a ‘couple’ of loan deals in mind for Premier League strikers if a deal for the Venezuelan didn’t materialise:
Frustrating (and slightly inevitable) to hear they’d only be loan signings, however I think I speak for all NUFC fans in saying that any upgrade in our striking department would come as a much needed boost – even if it was a temporary fix.
The question now – who could this be referring to? Divock Origi? Danny Ings? Lucas Perez? Sandro Ramirez?
Origi and Ings seem like the most likely to me. Any ideas?