Chelsea have this afternoon confirmed the signing of Demba Ba from Newcastle on a three-and-a-half-year contract. Having triggered the £7m release clause in the Senegalese’s contract, the Blues moved quickly to address a distinct lack of forward options – with Daniel Sturridge moving to Liverpool and Romelu Lukaku remaining on loan at West Brom, the Champions League winners have been relying solely on Fernando Torres up top this term:
In spite of a recent upturn in output from Torres since the dismissal of Roberto Di Matteo, reinforcements have been badly needed. Ba – with an average better than a goal every other game in the English top flight – will be sorely missed by the Magpies but was keen to move on after a successful season-and-a-half on Tyneside:
“It feels good to be here, I’m very happy and very proud. It was important for me, and for Newcastle, to get my future sorted and now we can move on. Now they have the whole month to buy someone and for me as well, the sooner the better. Now I am here I just need to get settled in. When the club who won the Champions League wants you, the decision is very easy. This club is massive and that’s something that helped the decision a lot. It was not a hard one.”
The Statistics
The French-born Ba had unsuccessful trials with both Lyon and Auxerre before making his way to England, where he was offered a one-year deal at Watford. Let go by Hornets boss Aidy Bothroyd in March 2005, he returned to France to sign for Rouen – there, he demonstrated his potential, with 22 goals in 26 appearances, before being snapped up by Belgian outfit Mouscron. In spite of an injury-ravaged season, he still managed eight goals in 12 matches before German outfit Hoffenheim came calling.
Ba produced 37 goals in 97 appearances, helping the club clinch promotion to the Bundesliga, before he was on the move again. After failing medicals with both Stuttgart and Stoke, he clinched a short-term deal with West Ham on a “pay as you play” basis, due to concerns over a knee injury. His impact at Upton Park was immediate and demonstrated his suitability to England’s top flight, with seven goals accrued in just 12 appearances in a season that saw the Hammers relegated to the Championship.
Newcastle moved quickly to secure his signature last season and, despite a poor second half to the campaign as a result of a shift out wide to accommodate new boy Papiss Cisse, Ba still managed to register 16 goals and five assists in 34 appearances. Moved back to a central berth this term, Ba’s output has been crucial to the Magpies – 13 goals and three assists over 20 league matches sums up his ability to produce. So far, then, his time in England has harvested 36 goals and eight assists from just 66 appearances.
The Prospects
From a Fantasy perspective, the move will be greeted with some trepidation. Ba has been superb value this season – beginning at 7.5 in Fantasy Premier League (FPL) he had started every league game when available for Alan Pardew but Benitez’s penchant for a 4-2-3-1 system means the new boy will likely fight it out with Torres for game time from here on in.
Speaking earlier this week, Benitez hinted at his plans to rotate his compatriot, who has started all 21 league games so far:
“Fernando is one of the players who needs to rest…if you have another striker you can play with two strikers if you need to. Or if you want to rest a striker then you can do that and at the moment we are a bit short.”
Looking at the statistics, though, Ba has played just 42 minutes less than Torres so far, suggesting he’s unlikely to be guaranteed a run of starts. Unfortunately for Fantasy managers, consistency of selection is not Benitez’s forte – we only have to look at Wednesday’s home defeat by QPR, where both Juan Mata and Eden Hazard were omitted from the starting line-up, to remind ourselves how detrimental the interim manager’s tinkering can be to our Fantasy fortunes. Going on the comments above, Benitez may revert to a front two when chasing games but aside from that, Ba and Torres are likely to be victims of his rotational whims – fatigue (or a lack of) will be a key factor in both players’ upcoming game time. The one factor in Ba’s favour, however, is that he is ineligible for Europa League duties, having already played in the competition for Newcastle this season – a factor to consider when the Blues square up to Sparta Prague in mid-February.
Frustratingly, the move comes just hours after news broke that Chelsea have a potential double Gameweek 22 on the horizon. Depending on the result of their FA Cup clash with Southampton tomorrow, the Blues could face a pair of games against Stoke and the Saints next time out but doubts will already be creeping in over Ba’s pitch time – can we really rely on Benitez not to tinker? The only hope is that he’ll have learnt from the QPR loss; that he’s realised he simply cannot afford to make too many alterations if he’s looking for the silverware that could keep him in the Stamford Bridge hotseat beyond the end of this season.
Ironically, the Ba move is likely to boost the prospects of Papiss Cisse, bringing the 8.8 priced Newcastle man back onto our Fantasy radars. The latter racked up 13 goals in 14 appearances playing through the middle in a 4-3-3 last season but has been a bitter disappointment this term for Newcastle, due to Ba’s move back to a central role. Alan Pardew revealed yesterday, however, that Cisse will be deployed centrally once again and with consistency of selection not an issue, he could prove the real beneficiary of today’s events.
