Rubin Kazan striker Jose Salomon Rondon has emerged a summer target for Premier League runners-up Manchester City.
The 23-year old Venezuelan international has represented his country on 31 occasions, scoring 11 goals. He joined Russian side Rubin in 2012 for a fee said to be around €10M. His debut season saw Rondon score seven goals in 25 league games, and 13 goals in 38 games in all competitions.
While highly-rated with his current side, Rubin are expected to be inundated with offers for a number of sides around Europe, but the Russian outfit will only accept bids for the right price. His valuation is around €10-€15M.
Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini (pictured), formerly of Spanish La Liga side Malaga, managed Rondon during his time in Spain. Rondon was at Malaga between 2010 and 2012 – scoring 27 goals in 72 games.
Pellegrini regards the €10M-rated striker as a player with a promising future, and feels the Venezuelan international can fill a void in the side – with City’s outgoing strikers, Mario Balotelli (to AC Milan) and Carlos Tevez (to Juventus) both departing in the last 6 months.
With the future of their Premier League top scorer Edin Dzeko still in doubt, City are even more desperate for new strikers. The side currently only have two senior forwards in the squad for pre-season, and have made it a summer priority to bring in two more new faces for their attack.
Sevilla’s Alvaro Negredo, Napoli’s Edinson Cavani, and Real Madrid’s Gonzalo Higuain have all been linked with potential moves to Manchester City this summer – the former being the favourite to join on a reported £24M deal.
Rondon has stated he would like to play under his old manager Pellegrini again, while stressing he is still content to remain at Russia.
Man City are yet to test Rubin Kazan’s resolve with an official bid, but movement is expected to be made in the coming week.
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