Malaga Striker On Edge As Chelsea Lurk

Since we haven't talked about Salomon Rondon in a while, here's some interesting quotes from the young centre forward regarding the ongoing situation at Malaga, where the club's in trouble over failing to pay players' wages and in debt to other teams over transfer fees:

If someone has to leave, they will leave. [But] I have two years of my contract remaining and would like to stay here.

We must not throw more wood on the fire. We will keep training and not make any rash decisions. We need to keep cool heads but, if the situation is not fixed, it is normal that players would leave.

-Source: ESPN Soccernet.

My interpretation of that quote reads something like, 'aaaaah please save me from this hellish mess! I beseech you to emancipate me from my shackles!' Your mileage may vary. Anyway, what makes this whole situation very, very strange is that Malaga are the pet club of a Qatari billionaire -- Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Abdullah Al Ahmed Al Thani presumably has the money, and appears to simply not be paying up. At this point, the club probably needs to be sold to keep the squad intact, so keep a close eye on what's going on down there.

I wasn't a big fan of Rondon when we were first linked, mainly due to the assumption that Malaga were rich and in the Champions League, which meant that any reasonable offer from Chelsea could easily be matched by his current team, but a cut-price Rondon, cast adrift from a financially struggling side? Sign me up. He's certainly a decent player and an enticing prospect, and although he's got some question marks I'd be pretty happy with him splitting time with Fernando Torres and Daniel Sturridge at centre forward next year.