Salomon Rondon's £16.5m release clause returns if West Brom fail to go up

The Baggies striker, who is currently on loan at Newcastle United for the season, has the same release clause in his contract this summer as he did following relegation.

He has made it clear he would like to stay in the North East, where he says he feels settled, but any club will be able to trigger the release clause if they want to.

Rondon has a separate release clause in his contract if Albion do go up, believed to be north of £20m.

The Venezuelan striker, who cost Albion £12m in the summer of 2015, had a £16.5m release clause last summer which wasn’t triggered.

Newcastle wanted to sign him, but only on loan, and they agreed to send Dwight Gayle the other way to facilitate the deal.

The release clause means Albion are vulnerable to losing Rondon without getting a deal for Gayle in return.

But receiving £16.5m for a striker who turns 30 in September with a year left on his contract would represent healthy business for the Baggies.

Newcastle will be in pole position to sign Rondon in the summer, but under Mike Ashley, they have rarely signed players over the age of 29.

There is also uncertainty clouding Rafa Benitez’s future in the North East, and it was Benitez who pushed to sign Rondon.

Albion’s automatic promotion hopes have taken a dent recently, and they now sit seven points behind the top two.

But Darren Moore defended the character of his players after back-to-back defeats left them with a mountain to climb.

“I don’t think you can criticise the player’s characters, that’s one thing I’ll never do with them,” he said. “There’s some wonderful characters in there.

“You’ve got to remember over 34 games in the season, those characters haven’t been called into question.

“The most important thing is what we do going forward.”