Burnley Opinion: Why Jay Rodriguez would be a good addition to Burnley?

According to a report from BBC, Jay Rodriguez is to re-sign for Burnley from West Brom.

The 29-year-old striker, who began his career with the Clarets, is heading back to his hometown club in a £10million deal. He came through the youth system at Turf Moor and made 128 appearances in his first spell at the club, scoring 41 times, before joining Southampton in 2012.

West Brom signed the one-cap England international from Southampton for a fee of about £12m in 2017, after he had scored 32 goals in 126 appearances at the St. Mary’s. The 29-year-old bagged 22 goals for West Brom last season but couldn’t help the club achieve promotion at the first time of asking.

Now set to rejoin the Clarets, Sean Dyche will expect Jay Rodriguez to solve his team’s goalscoring woes.

It isn’t difficult to understand why Dyche wants to sign Rodriguez after a poor 2018/19 Premier League campaign. Burnley struggled royally for goals and things need to change at the club this summer.

Neither Ashley Barnes nor Chris Wood are reliable options and while the pair did score goals in double digits and ended the season well, the Clarets need more firepower up front.

In a Burnley team that creates very little, Dyche needs someone clinical up front. If we look at Rodriguez’s record last season with West Brom, he tormented Championship defences alongside on loan Newcastle United star Dwight Gayle.

While there’s a lot of difference between Championship football and the Premier League, Rodriguez at least showed that he can consistently put the ball in the back of the net provided he gets proper service from his teammates.

The 29-year-old is a proven Premier League player and someone who works really hard off the ball.

He offers a different dimension to that of Wood and Barnes and his ability to play out wide allows for greater tactical flexibility, allowing Dyche to use his attacking options as per the game’s need.

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Rodriguez is generally good in the opposition box and can work wonders for the Clarets, provided he gets good service from the likes of Dwight McNeil, Johann Berg Gudmundsson and Jeff Hendricks.

Verdict

Dyche could use some attacking depth in his side and Rodriguez should prove to be a decent addition. The Englishman has the experience of playing in the Premier League and he could push the likes of Wood and Barnes as well.