Rafa Benitez has revealed that Salomon Rondon was withdrawn against Palace after complaining about some ‘tightness’ in his quad – the The Chronicle suggesting he may now be a doubt for Saturday’s crucial clash with Leicester.
The Venezuelan was recalled to the starting line up on Saturday after failing to come off the bench against Arsenal, and his impact on the game was minimal to say the least.
He had just 17 touches and didn’t manage a single effort on goal – with this niggle perhaps explaining why he didn’t look ‘at it’ at Selhurst Park.
Here’s what Rafa has had to say since, with this showing just why he was taken off for Joselu at the break:
“He was feeling a bit of tightness in his quad muscle, so we needed to take him out.”
Given our offensive struggles so far this season, we could really do with having Rondon fit and firing.
Is this ‘tightness’ perhaps the product of a disrupted pre-season?
No wonder Rafa wanted this deal done early in the summer and not days before the league season began.
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