I TRY TO MAKE MY PEOPLE FORGET THE BAD TIMES
Newcastle’s new No 9 Salomon Rondon on the desperate situation back home in Venezuela
SALOMON Rondon traces the outline of the felt-tipped number marking his flip-flops. Did Newcastle United’s new No 9 make the inscription himself?
‘Yes, I wrote that, of course,’ he says. ‘I want to know that I am the No 9. I like the pressure.’
Rondon, however, is wearing a drill top with No 27 on his chest. That may be because the Venezuelan, with biceps as bulging as his calves, cannot fit into the training gear vacated by Dwight Gayle, the previous No 9 with whom he swapped places when arriving on loan from West Bromwich this month.
‘ I am not No 27!’ declares Rondon, an imposing presence when viewed from a seat two feet away as opposed to one in the stands. Newcastle’s kitmen would be best advised to sort some XL apparel bearing the club’s iconic number double quick.
Numbers are a source of concern for the 28- year- old. A United Nations official this week warned that Venezuela is on the verge of ‘an absolute disaster of unprecedented proportions’ with inflation now measured at more than 40,000 per cent.
Families are starving and thousands are trying to flee the South American country. Rondon’s parents still live in the capital, Caracas.
‘You read about inflation all the time in the newspapers,’ he begins. ‘It is high, very, very high. I am a footballer, not an economist, but it is a bad situation for the people there and for me as well, for all Venezuelan people around the world, because we’ve got family there.
‘My responsibility, as a Venezuelan person, is to make Venezuelan people proud of football. Every weekend they try to watch the Premier League. It is a distraction from the problems they have.
‘It’s the same when we play for the national team. We try to make them forget the bad moments, just for those 90 minutes. I don’t have a tattoo but if I did it would be the flag of my country. I feel very, very proud to be a Venezuelan. This is my ID. As a footballer, I try my best to make them proud.’
Rondon has spoken previously about the dangers famous sportsmen encounter when they return to their homeland.
And, while the father of two prefers not to be drawn on those risks now given the instability of the country, he does reveal: ‘I did not go back this summer. It is difficult. I know my position. I am the only player in the Premier League. Everyone recognises me. My mum and my dad… it is best to get them to visit me.’
Rondon’s phone rests squarely on a thigh as wide as a table top. Its screen is cracked. Perhaps that happened when he answered a call from Newcastle boss Rafa Benitez earlier this summer.
‘I remember the first call from Rafa… “Hello, this is who?!”,’ he recalls, dropping his jaw and staring at his handset in memory of the shock.
‘He told me they were interested and asked if I would like to come. “Of course!” I said. It is a pleasure to work with him.’
After Rondon finalised the terms of his loan move inside St James’ Park — and walked down the tunnel and on to the pitch with his children — he encountered a plaque listing the club’s all-time top goalscorers. ‘I know all about the No 9 shirt,’ he says ahead of today’s trip to Cardiff and an expected full debut. ‘When I signed the contract I saw the big picture of all the top scorers — Alan Shearer at the top with 206. So the pressure is big… But that is good, I want to make the fans proud by wearing this shirt, like Shearer did.’
Rondon, it would seem, has the weight of the Geordie nation as well as his own resting on his shoulders. At least they look broad enough to carry it.