Venezuelan football has grown exponentially during the last decade.
A country that was used to participating but not being competitive in World Cup qualifiers and Copa América has lately played a much more relevant role in those tournaments, recording a historic fourth place in the 2011 Copa América, which was held in Argentina.
Although the qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup held in Russia in 2018 showed poor performance, in 2017, the U-20 national team lost the World Cup final against England, which was their best historic result at the national level in any category.
A solid youth development plan, along with the discovery of very talented players, has allowed the Llaneros to be more competitive than ever before.
What started several years ago with Juan Arango or Salomón Rondón, has continued with good players showing up in European and American leagues as Rómulo Otero, Yangel Herrera or Adalberto Peñaranda.
Rondón was only 18 years old when he arrived in 2008 as a free transfer to UD Las Palmas, in Spain, and he has stayed in Europe since then.
After two good seasons at Málaga in La Liga under Manuel Pellegrini’s leadership, the club’s economic troubles took him to Russia, where he played for three seasons in Rubin Kazan and Zenit.
He was transferred to West Bromwich Albion in the 2015/2016 season and has stayed in the Premier League since then.
Last season, he was loaned to Newcastle United, where, according to Rafa Benítez, he was an “important player” and also won the club’s official Player of the Season award.
Although the club’s performance was not stellar, at St James’ Park, they are already doing the numbers to keep the Venezuelan permanently.
This tactical analysis will show the Venezuelan player’s strengths and weaknesses.
Teams like Wolves have also been reportedly interested in his services, and this should be one of the engaging histories during the transfer window.
Salomón Rondón Stats
Goals, goal chances, assists, duels, etc.
are statistics that have something in common.
They all usually show how players perform with or in relation to the ball, but they hardly evaluate how a player performs without it.
This is especially unfair to Rondon because probably his biggest strength is without the ball.
Strikers sometimes face unfair judgement; they can barely be in contact with the ball for a long time during a game, and suddenly, they may face a clear chance that, if missed, will not be easily forgotten.
With a height and weight of 186cm and 85kg, respectively, Rondón’s physical toughness is a key strength as a striker.
This physical condition also means he is less agile, and therefore, his strength is not in 1v1 duels with the ball under his control.
He averaged 2.49 dribbles last season at Newcastle with only a 62.1% success rate, compared to other strikers in the Premier League, such as Harry Kane, Sergio Agüero, or Liverpool‘s Roberto Firmino, all of whom averaged at least 3.33 dribbles and 66.3% success in those.
Although it may sound unfair to compare Rondón to the top strikers in the Premier League, on teams that usually facilitate a striker’s job, it is helpful to understand where he stands compared to what top players produce during a season.
His physical characteristics result in a player who usually plays in the final fourth of the pitch to receive goal kicks or long balls.
He is able to hold possession while receiving those passes or win aerial duels against defenders.
After that, he is usually closer to the goal area through the middle of the pitch, as a pure striker waiting for his opportunity to score or assist his teammates.
His success ratio in offensive duels is also low, 34% for last season, compared to 42% of Firmino, the lowest among the three players mentioned before, but higher than the 28.9% of Giroud at Chelsea, another strong but less agile player.
The reduced agility also results in more possession lost, with 15.62 average lost possession last season versus the 7-to-11 range of Firmino, Agüero, Kane and Giroud.
Regarding efficacy, Rondón averaged 0.46 goals per game, in line with Kane, Firmino, Giroud, and even Lukaku, who are in the 0.43-0.53 range.
Not considering Agüero here, who is totally out of the normal with a 0.82 figure.
But considering Goals minus xG, whether a player outperforms his chances or not, Rondón totals 0.03, in line with Agüero’s 0.02. This is below Kane’s 0.10 and Firmino’s 0.07 but above Giroud’s -0.05.
As the image below shows, Rondón’s efficacy in front of the goal area is good, but not outstanding.
Where does Rondón really stand out?
His good positioning and excellent movements off the ball generate goal chances for him and his teammates.
According to Squawka, he created 1.67 open-play chances every 90 minutes, which is higher than Kane, Firmino, Giroud, and Agüero.
Also, according to Wyscout, he averaged 0.20 assists during last season, at the top of the range of 0.07-0.21 of Kane, Agüero, Firmino, Lukaku and Giroud.
Doing the same math of Assists minus xA, Rondón is top of the list with 0.11.
He is technically very good, which allows him to receive the ball while under pressure and execute good passes while being marked.
This increases his offensive contributions through more assists.
The Venezuelan may not stand out individually, but he is a true team player helping his teammates flourish.
His physical strength also means he is strong in the aerial game.
According to Squawka, he won 8.48 aerial duels every 90 minutes during last season, much higher than Giroud’s 4.36, who is second on the list.
This is relevant offensively but also defensively, where he also plays an important role, especially in set-plays.
The numbers show that he is a good striker, with decent chances to conversion ratios, and also a very good team player.
Let’s see now with some images how smart and unpredictable he is while off the ball, another big strength that numbers don’t capture.
Perfectly timed movements to receive the ball and to open up spaces for teammates
Rondón is very smart when moving around the attacking front.
With or without the ball, he is very good at timing his movement to the perfect moment to gain enough space to receive the ball and either pass to a teammate or try to score.
As mentioned before, he is not extremely agile, so 1v1 duels are not his strength.
Therefore, the ability to lose his marker is even more relevant to receiving enough space and time to avoid those duels.
The sequence below shows how he is moving close to his marker, but he makes a small movement at the perfect time, taking advantage of the defender’s blind spot to receive enough space to continue the attacking play.
Notice how, in both cases, the defenders looked at him. When they turned to look at the ball, Rondón started his movement to lose his marker.
In one of the situations, he assists his teammate, and in the other one, he scores.
Now, the second sequence is when he is able to lose his marker and score.
Similarly, he has very interesting movements without the ball.
He doesn’t have good acceleration, but he is not slow at all once he has gained speed.
He understands very well when his role is to free up spaces for his teammates when the play demands to take the ball to a different place from where he is.
He is very good at dragging defenders out of their positions, which has proven useful, especially for counterattacks.
In the sequence below, we see how a counterattack that starts on his side is successfully directed to the other wing while he keeps his marker closer to his position.
Conclusion: a smart player with great vision to play with and without the ball
He probably won’t be the lethal striker you see in Sergio Agüero.
But Rondón has a very interesting combination of physical strength, decent technical skills and a team-play oriented player.
He has scored a decent number of goals almost every season, and he also participates in his teams’ offensive phase through assists and great movements that help them progress.
Rondón is being followed by several teams in the Premier League, and he has proven through the years to be a useful and tactically smart player.
Moreover, he has been very consistent in his performances, adapting to the different teams and coaches he has had.
That is a key ability as football is becoming more immediate and urgent every day. Therefore, adaptation is a key virtue that the Venezuelan has, and whoever manages to sign him will be happy to know that.
