Slam Dunk

Lmao you can hardly criticise Torres for that... Marin needs to calm down a bit.

Christ almighty Marko.

He was just on Sky being interviewed mate, said "there's no if, the deal is done, he will go to Chelsea" or something along those lines.

Pardew says deal is done!

I have a strange feeling we'll see Mata and Hazard on at some point early in the second half. Seems a bad move to leave our two game changers on the bench, although I'll reserve judgement for now.

Like most, I know absolutely nothing of him apart from his 'van Basten' goal on Youtube... But it seems like there is actually substance to this story, especially as he's said he's already visited London and met with the club. Although, I'm wondering if he would actually be granted a work permit? As far as I know he's never played for the national team (I may be wrong on that one), so would he be considered under the 'exceptional talent' rule, just because we're the buyers?

Glad this was wrapped up quickly. I'm sure he'll do well there, we needed to move him on though. Time to change the sig?

Nope.

Should be done by the weekend then. At least we can end the season how we should've started it - with a true second striker.

Lukaku was given the Sponsor's MOTM, which will always go to a WBA player when they're at home. Well deserved though, the rest of the WBA team were awful first half, Lukaku was the only one looking to make something happen. As much as i'd rather have him back and playing backup to Torres from January, he wants to establish himself in the league, and in order to do so, must work his way up to being 1st choice striker at WBA. It's an easier route there than it would be at Chelsea.

Tello signed a new deal recently as well, iirc.

Southampton are tiring. Can see how this is going to end...

City, United and Spurs all on their way to winning, as expected. Should be good motivation for us tomorrow.

Villa falling apart yet again...

Why move him to the wing? Yeah, he can cross a ball, but he should be the focal point, surely??

What a good goal that was. 2-1 Fulham.

Thought he was off at first. It's nice to see a striker being in a position to score though, isn't it?

Seeing as he's been refusing to be a sub lately and has been made to sit in the stands, i'd doubt it.

@The only place to be

If that is the case, that would mean Newcastle would only receive £5/£5.5M from the transfer which seems odd, maybe that's what the extra £2M is for, to make up the numbers. Who knows. If the only thing standing in the way of this transfer is £1/2M, then I can't see that being too much of a problem for us.

It probably works much in the same way as when a player moves on a bosman. The player often asks for a higher wage because the buying club doesn't have to spend on a transfer fee. Ba is obviously worth much more than his buy-out clause, maybe they think because the club is getting a player of his calibre for a low fee, they can take the piss with their 'negotiation' fees and make it out like they're doing us a favour. Maybe that's just me being cynical.

Well considering it's only a LONDON team of the year, it's not that surprising, is it?

Whilst I don't think the deal is completely off, as we all know how our transfers often pan out, i'm sure the board won't be putting all their eggs in one basket with Ba. I know the club'll have other targets. Obviously we shouldn't just give in to what the board considers excessive demands, we can't afford to prolong negotiations this January, especially in the case of the striker. The longer we go without signing anyone up top, the more other clubs will know we're desperate (especially if/when Sturridge leaves).