Apparently the player has a clause in his contract that will allow him to leave The Hammers on a free transfer if the team ended up being relegated. Well that has happened so I’m assuming the clause, if it exists, will be activated, although I personally question why the presence of this clause hasn’t come to light earlier.
Demba Ba scored 7 league goals in 12 league appearances for a struggling West Ham side last season so he has shown that he can find the back of the net in the Premier League which is a characteristic that our team are lacking at the moment. If you take his career statistics into account you will see that he has scored 74 league goals in 147 league appearances. A goal every two games is not to be sniffed at.
It’s not all sweetness and light though with regard to the Senegalese striker. Demba Ba has medical issues that have raised concern throughout his career and the player has had several moves break down due to medical exams picking up issues with his knees. Stoke are the most recent example of this but he also failed a medical when trying to join Stuttgart back in 2007.
So there is a huge element of risk involved with the player in question. On one hand he can score goals and wouldn’t cost a penny in transfer fees, but on the other hand none of that would matter if his knee suddenly went and we couldn’t play him regardless. Knowing Newcastle and the rate that our players seem to pick up injuries leaves me wondering whether we should bother with him.
The other problem is that if we did sign Demba Ba I get the feeling it would be a feeling of ‘job done’ with regard to recruiting strikers. We’ll probably try and get two, and we may well get two, but if one of our first choice strikers is out for an extended period then we are pretty much back to square one. Don’t get me wrong, I understand players get injured and that it can’t be helped at times, but why chase a player that has had the red flag numerous times throughout his career? It’s asking for trouble in my opinion.
Mind you, there might not be any truth in the rumours – it is The Mirror after all! However this is the type of deal that I can see us going for so it wouldn’t surprise me if there was some truth in it.
Would you take a chance on Demba Ba?
http://www.francefootball.fr/#!/news/2011/05/28/111523_cabaye-vers-newcastle.html
French rag says we’re having Cabaye (French media a lot more reliable for this kinda news) we’ve been heavily linked with him in the past, he completely and utterly fits our profile and he plays for Lille (so Carr would have watched him numerous times this season alone)
Barton replacement anyone?
I, for one, would be very happy if we signed him!
Could be the mystery international as well? Plays on the continent, predominantly center mid?
DevonMag(Quote)
Would take Ba on a pay as you play contract with bonuses.
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
Who’s this French guy then? Anyone seen him play?
Stuart79(Quote)
@stuart, Pavel posted a video on the previous thread and he looks like a very good player. I agree that the French press is more reliable, they were the ones that broke the news about Ben Arfa so I believe what they say is accurate.
Goose(Quote)
The french press are saying that he could sign with us this weekend
Goose(Quote)
http://youtu.be/nJq6qmh1jME a little clip of him that the vid lol
pavel is a geordie(Quote)
Agree with Beardsleys boots-although he might get a bit fussy on a pay as you play contract. He definitely shouldn’t be our no.1 target, and i’d only bring him in if we secure another two starter strikers to be honest..with the amount of semi crocked players we have in arfa (ireland if he comes) gosling do we really want another?
Newkie(Quote)
I have watched him a few times this year he is 10* better than barton. The french press were shocked he is coming to us thinking it would be someone like barca. tha\ts what my french mate said about this kidd he that good , 😯 😯 😯
pavel is a geordie(Quote)
Newkie , I dunno if we should bring in 3 strikers this summer. I assume we are going to play 1 up front for most of the season with Ben Arfa playing just behind them , we already have Sholla , Best , Mclovin and Ranger. I think Ba could be a good pice of business so id be happy with him and 1 more striker as long as we get rid of atleast 1 striker ourselves
Johno Toon(Quote)
Ive never seen him play Paval , n due to been in work I cant check out youtube 🙁 but the way u rate him he sounds very promsing indeed
Johno Toon(Quote)
I’ve had a look at him on the web and he seems a very good player Johno, if we get him then that would be a great addition. The Lille fans already can tell that he is leaving and they already have a replacement ready to come in for him
Goose(Quote)
Who the hell is Danny graham?
jay jay(Quote)
Johno-true, could be a bit many, but I think Ranger just has to go out on loan for the experience, and it would also allow for one of loven or shola to be moved on..although I guess they won’t be-but loven’s contract is up after next summer, can’t see him getting much play time this season either, and shola’s on his way out, so with Ba being younger, and also if we could get him on a pay as you play, then it makes sense really..our whole striking department needs a revamp. We’ve seen how our strikers can get destroyed to the limit that we need to bring in people like Shefki
Newkie(Quote)
Plays for watford jay jay, I think he’s from newcastle and a fan of the club
Goose(Quote)
Jay jay-Geordie lad who plays for Watford, fizzy pop top scorer I think 😀
Newkie(Quote)
Gramham came through the boro youth ranks , think he finished top scorer in championship last season.
I dont think we need a total revamp of up front Newkie , i think it needs tweeking a little , i think we are going to see a 4231 , i would get rid of lovenkrands and send ranger on loan. IF we got Ba and Gamerio i would be extremely happy with our strike force.
Johno Toon(Quote)
Danny graham is a gateshead lad and is a newcastle fan . came through boro acadamy , and wigan want him
pavel is a geordie(Quote)
#nufc have signed Lille midfielder Yohan Cabaye for 5m euros subject to passing a medical
This is what cwarr07 has said on twitter
Goose(Quote)
i say let wigan get him and if he does well in prem get him next season
pavel is a geordie(Quote)
Well, total revamp was a bit extreme if I’m honest-didn’t mean that. But Shola/best are our best bets, Shola still fairly injury prone. Loven might actually leave anyway as he was unhappy at sub appearances at the beginning-maybe Mcleish will buy him for brum now. Anyway, if we brought in Gamerio/Gerviniho-I know its basically impossible, but if they were our two strikers, I’d still be tempted to bring in Ba. If we grabbed Gerviniho no doubt we’d be playing 4-3-3 of some sort, with him playing a sort of inside/wing forward-the problem then is they’re both our first team then, we only have Best/Shola as cover, and still not quite anything that can change a game if required-like Ba might be able to do. If we get two out and out strikers to play in 4-5-1, or 4-2-3-1 or whatever then yeah I guess we won’t need Ba, but I can’t see us getting two quality up front strikers with one willing to sit on the bench.
Newkie(Quote)
No that is something I totally agree with Newkie 😉
Johno Toon(Quote)
spot on mate
Johno Toon(Quote)
Goose, looks like Cwarr07 has caught up with the rest of the world and updated his twitter feed 😆
still, hope it’s true!
DevonMag(Quote)
I think we’ll sign a striker, though probably not the big money french strikers being touted (hope I’m wrong though)…
That would leave us with Leon Best, Shola, Lovenkrands and Ranger battling out for second striker position… one of those will be moved on depending upon who we sign…
Demba Ba would work, but his long term fitness is maybe in doubt…..
Munich Mag(Quote)
Devon, I agree. I thought he might have been on this rumour but he wasn’t until he posted that.
I really hope that we get him
Goose(Quote)