It was always up to the personal terms discussed between Chelsea and the Newcastle striker, Demba Ba, because his release clause price of £7.5 million was never going to be a problem. According to the North Eastern club, struggling this season in the Premier League, that price has been met.
And Chelsea wouldn’t have triggered the release clause if they weren’t sure they are going to set things straight with Demba Ba. According to Newcastle, The Club has given the player permission to speak to Chelsea FC and therefore he will not be included in the squad for tonight’s game against Everton.
The problems always seemed to be with the people representing Ba and the signing bonus they want for him and for themselves, knowing Chelsea are buying a proven goalscorer on the cheap. Ba’s salary at Newcastle is £2.6 million a season. It’ll probably be close to double that once he completes his move to Chelsea.
Ba is tied for second among the top scorers this season in the Premier League with 13 goals in 20 league matches. Since signing with the Magpies as a free agent from West Ham in 2011, he has scored 29 goals on 58 appearances in all competitions. He began his Premier League career with West Ham, scoring 7 goals in 12 matches for the Hammers after coming over from the Bundesliga.
One dent in Ba’s reputation are his knees. Before moving to West Ham, he failed a medical at Stoke City. He has hardly missed matches since arriving in North East England, but there’s always a fear that the 27 year old Senegalese striker isn’t as durable as his impressive frame might suggest.
If he does pass the medical, Ba is likely to become part of a striker rotation Rafa Benitez will deploy. He has already spoken about Fernando Torres willing to accept starting on the bench from time to time, a hint at the striker that should be arriving. Now that Demba Ba is on the verge of completing the transfer, we’ll see how happy Fernando Torres actually is about getting a partner up front.