Salomon Rondon says he waited for West Ham’s call but Rafa Benitez was more keen

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Former Newcastle striker Salomon Rondon said he waited for Manuel Pellegrini to call to try and take him to West Ham this summer.

Speaking to the Sun, Rondon, who has 35 Premier League goals in his career (Transfermarkt), said that Pellegrini just wasn’t as keen as Rafa Benitez was to reunite with him at Chinese Super League club Dalian Yifang.

He said: “We never saw a proper offer. I was waiting to see if Pellegrini would call and say, ‘Do you want to come to West Ham? We have a good project. We are trying to go to the Europa League’.

“But I never received that call and Rafa was calling me all the time, so I chose to go to China. I can play again in the Premier League one day because I am the kind of striker people like in England.”

After seeing a number of strikers leave this summer, Rondon would have represented useful experienced striking cover to Sebastien Haller for the Hammers.

But perhaps they, like Newcastle, didn’t want to splash out on an ageing player, especially if he was only going to play second fiddle to their club-record signing.

He seemed willing to stay in England and play for the Hammers, but Pellegrini obviously wasn’t as keen as Rondon hoped he might be.

West Ham could regret passing up on his interest if Haller gets injured or fails to settle and their lack of striking depth is laid bare.