When Everton decided to lure Salomon Rondon to the club on transfer deadline day, it raised eyebrows for all the wrong reasons.
The Venezuelan is a powerful and robust striker on his day but has never been a consistent goal scorer.
Rafa Benitez knows him well from spells at Newcastle and in China but at the moment, the forward is struggling enormously.
His lack of pre-season is coming across with Rondon lacking fitness and composure in front of goal.
He was signed to play second fiddle to Dominic Calvert-Lewin in attack but with him and Richarlison both out injured, his chance of regular football has come earlier than imagined.
The attacker earned his debut from the bench in the win against Burnley but with Rondon starting, they have now lost two games in a row.
His performance against Aston Villa last weekend left plenty to be desired as he snatched a golden opportunity at the near post in the first half.
That wasn’t the only negative aspect of his display. During that match, the 32-year-old completed just five passes at a success rate of 38%. He also lost 15 of his 20 defensive duels.
Rondon was charged with leading the line against QPR again on Tuesday but as they crashed out of the Carabao Cup on penalties after a 2-2 draw, Benitez would have been concerned with his striker’s performance again.
It was a similar showing to the one at Villa Park only a few days ago as he completed just seven passes at a success rate of 58%. For context, that happened to be the worst tally - excusing Charlie Austin - of any player to start the clash.
Furthermore, the former West Brom man lost the ball every 2.5 touches and won only 50% of his physical battles.
It’s evident that Rondon is some way off the pace right now and with Richarlison and Calvert-Lewin set to miss another few weeks of action; he will need to make desperate improvements.
At the moment, he doesn’t look cut out for this Everton team whatsoever. Supporters and coaching staff should be alarmed.