Neil Warnock left to wonder what could have been over Salomon Rondon signing

Warnock tried to sign Rondon from West Brom over the summer, but the Venezuelan eventually moved to Newcastle on loan

Salomon Rondon has scored five goals for Newcastle this season (Getty)

Neil Warnock will deploy new striker Oumar Niasse at Newcastle United today, but the man the Cardiff City manager originally hoped would spearhead their Premier League survival bid will be playing for the opposition.

Warnock’s elusive search for renewed firepower dates back to last summer when the club earned unexpected promotion from the Championship and he tried to sign Salomon Rondon from West Brom.

The Venezuelan eventually moved to Newcastle on loan and although Rafa Benitez’s team are in the relegation zone, Rondon has scored five of their meagre total of 16 league goals.

“Yeah, I would have liked him,” said Warnock of the striker who could help send Cardiff back into the relegation zone – and Newcastle clear of it – at St James’ Park.

“But it was not to be. They are a wonderful club and their number nines are a great tradition, all the way back to Jackie Milburn and Malcolm Macdonald.

“Football is the life and soul up there. It’s what they live for, the fans. They get frustrated but they also get behind you and then it’s wonderful. But we hope to cause them a few problems.”

Central to that intention is likely to be Niasse, who Warnock has loaned from Everton with the option to make the deal a permanent one if he can keep the Welsh club above the cut-off zone come May.

Just in case Niasse flounders – and eight goals in three years at Goodison Park after a £13.5m move suggests he might – then Warnock’s Plan B is to complete a £15m deal for Nantes’ Argentinian striker Emiliano Sala.

Like Newcastle, Cardiff have struggled for goals this season. They have only managed 19 themselves, with the biggest disappointment being the inability of Kenneth Zohore to make the adjustment from the Championship. The Dane has failed to score this season and managed just seven appearances.

Those problems, and injuries to the likes of Danny Ward, forced Warnock to convert Callum Paterson, a right-back, into a willing and occasionally successful centre-forward – a throwback to yesteryear and the kind of decision few other managers in the Premier League would have contemplated.

But Warnock admitted the Paterson experiment went on a week too long as the Scot should have been rested before the 0-0 draw at home to Huddersfield.

“I probably shouldn’t have played him last week. But we were so short of height I thought we needed him at set-pieces as they had so many big lads.

“From my point of view, even though I’m the one spending money on these strikers, it doesn’t necessarily mean they are going to be in the team.

Injuries and striker shortages have seen defender Callum Paterson played up top for Cardiff (Getty Images)

“We just need more numbers and options because we can’t be left with poor old Patter again. We had to get strikers in and if I had the choice of a midfield player or a striker, I would go for the striker.”

Warnock believes his team are capable of winning what appears to be their most critical game of the season so far, even though a recent win at Leicester City remains their only away victory.

But he is equally insistent that Newcastle – without a home win since November – should fancy their chances.

“They will expect to beat us, but I think we can give anyone outside that top four a really good game. But if we are not on our game, then we will get steam-rollered as we have been in certain games.

“I look at some of the squads around us with envy – including Newcastle’s and Southampton’s. They have got really good players. But then so have we. You tend to forget about your own players.”

Cardiff have a doubt over their captain Sean Morrison who went into hospital in midweek for a procedure, while Newcastle will be without midfielder Jonjo Shelvey and Paul Dummett.