Everton striker Salmon Rondon has insisted he is ‘grateful’ to manager Rafa Benitez for bringing him to the club last summer.
Benitez moved to sign Rondon on a free transfer last summer as he sought out a temporary replacement for Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who was still out injured from the previous campaign.
The move saw Rondon reuniting with the Spanish boss, who was signing him for the third time after spells together at Newcastle and Dalian in China.
It’s fair to say it was not one that was universally welcomed, with Everton fans believing that they should be doing better than the Venezuelan.
It’s an opinion he has not done much to dispel, particularly as he’s only managed three goals in 17 games so far. Benitez has now gone, but Rondon remains pleased to have worked with him again.
“There are many things to analyse,” he told Marca.
“I will always be grateful to Rafa for his trust and for bringing me here, taking me to Dalian and Newcastle. I identify a lot with him. I don’t know what happened.
“Things didn’t work out the way we wanted them to. This is football, and a lot depends on results. Unfortunately, they didn’t happen, and they took that decision.”
The Everton manager’s office is now occupied by Frank Lampard, who was parachuted into Goodison Park in the January transfer window when Everton elected to sack Benitez.
His start to life with the Toffees has not been a completely smooth one, with a 5-0 defeat to Tottenham this week leaving Everton on the brink of the relegation zone.
The situation appears to be dire at this moment in time, with performances yet to show they are capable of getting out of the mess they find themselves in.
Rondon is refusing to look at the negatives, though, and insists that he believes Lampard has what it takes to get Everton out of the mire.
“He’s had experiences at Everton, Chelsea and Derby Country if I’m not mistaken,” he added.
“We know what a team like Chelsea is all about. But in today’s football world, results are very important, and you have to keep working. We are not in a very positive moment for us.
“But we have to pick it up somehow. He has the knowledge. He wants us to play with the ball as we have trained and as we have played in the last few games.
“But we have to keep going; we have to lift our heads to overcome this moment.”
