The Baggies have agreed a fee with Dalian Yifang, the club Benitez joined after leaving Newcastle, and Rondon has flown to the Far East for talks.

The Venezuelan striker will reportedly be offered a massive wage of around £150,000-a-week by the Chinese Super League side.

He has a £16.5million release clause in his contract, and while it’s unclear if Yifang have triggered it, they were offering more than any interested English clubs.

Earlier this summer, Wolves, Newcastle and West Ham were sniffing around the 29-year-old, but none of them got close to the release clause. Wolves and West Ham decided to look elsewhere.

Selling Rondon to China is the best deal for the Baggies, who are now expected to use the cash to bring players in to bolster their squad.

Albion are in desperate need of additions, having lost six loanees at the end of last season, released five more, and subsequently sold Craig Dawson and Jay Rodriguez.

Gareth Barry, one of those released, is expected to be offered a new deal once he returns to fitness.

The veteran midfielder is running again after undergoing surgery on his knee at the end of last season.

Advertising

The Baggies were always planning to rebuild the squad this summer, but so far, have only brought in Filip Krovinovic on loan from Benfica.

Agreeing a fee for Rondon does, however, give the club a better idea of this summer’s budget.

Last week, head coach Slaven Bilic said: “Salomon is probably going to go as well, hopefully that will finish quickly and we can activate the targets we’ve been working on.”

Albion’s boss is desperate to add to his squad, and told the Express & Star it was ‘crucial’ signings were made this week.

The Championship season starts in under three weeks, and the Baggies want to bolster their threadbare strike-force before focusing on the defence.

Rondon was signed for £12million from Zenit St Petersburg in 2015. He scored 28 goals in 120 Albion appearances and had one year left on his contract.