Superblue

If the Mirror is right then that is great news... on both accounts!

In normal circumstances yes, but this lad will score goals for fun for us, I'm certain. Every chance Lampard gets to score he must be given it now - everybody wants him to break the goalscoring record.

Unbelievable how much stronger our lineup looks with just one new player. I hope we haven't all hyped up Ba to the point of a demi-god but I do think he will do well here and score goals - he must be given a fair chance!

I thought mine was a good effort in between crunching numbers at work

I'll let you re-quote it in its correct format What rhymes with goals, haven't got the time at work!

Ba Ba (leave out at the risk of racist connotations), have you any goals? Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full; A brace to beat United, goals galore away; and three against the scum who live down three point lane (to the tune of bah bah black sheep)

Newcastle have to be out of Europa to allow that but because they are still in it, he's ineligible.

Doesn't necessarily need to be announced, as long as we've registered him. If he is reportedly training at Cobham then I'm pretty sure this has been completed.

He's actually said he wants to rest Torres against Southampton so as long as its announced I expect him to start.

I think that club must be out if the competition though and Newcastle are still in.

Cheers buddy - my argument against keeping Lampard centred around his wages. If reports of him willing to take a big pay cut are true then this decision is ridiculous!

I can't see that on my phone - what does it say?

Somebody can correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding is it's not a degenerative knee condition like Ledley King's (which he was born with) which was guaranteed to worsen as he continued playing football. This is a knee condition from a botched operation and could as Choulo said be problematic in the future. But that future could be in his 40's or not at all. This knee problem is also not like a cruciate ligament injury which we've seen ruin a number of player's careers like Essien. His Newcastle career is proof that his knee condition doesn't affect his ability to perform. If he were to fail his medical then that is completely different, but if his medical is passed are we really going to be against this transfer because of a 'what if'? As I've said before, this is a player seemingly at his peak, with a proven pedigree for scoring goals in the Premier League and is available for £7m.

It's such an awkward situation. On one hand he is probably the greatest player ever to play for this football club and an absolute legend. Regardless of his roots he's a 'Chelsea boy' and as we've all known for years will be simply irreplaceable in terms of his goal scoring from a midfield position. However, on the other hand we need to move on eventually from what was a golden generation at the club. If the club goes out in the summer and buys a truly world class central midfielder at the peak of his powers can we really moan about that?! One thing for sure is I would love to see Lampard break the goal record. It's a big ask now, but 4-5 penalties whilst he's on the pitch and he might well get near it! Similar to Drogba, it would be justice if Lampard were to leave the club on as big a possible high - a last minute winner in the FA Cup or Europa League final to make it to 203 goals anyone?!

I read some stat that he's missed 17 games in last 5/6 years, that should be proof not to worry about his knee.Of course if he failed our medical that's a different story.

Such a sensible decision by the management. He is only 18 for christs sakes and will finish the season with a stack of first team games at Championship level under his belt. Possibly a loan next season to a top Championship club or even lower Prem club, and he should then be ready to challenge in our first team. Huge potential.

Having him ineligible for the Europa League may be a real blessing - Torres will play Thursday nights in the Europa League and it will likely mean that Ba will start more often than not at the weekend in the Premier League, where making sure we get top four (preferably top 3) will be the most important thing to secure this season (I hate saying that as I sound like how an Arsenal fan must sound every season!), and therefore Ba needs to start the majority of league games over Torres.

The problem that Oscar and Hazard have faced is that we are expecting them to instantly perform because Mata managed to do it. However Mata was 23 when he joined with a lot of experience playing in one of the strong leagues and Champions League football. He also developed playing with the likes of Silva and Villa, before a season as Valencia's talisman. Oscar and Hazard must be given time, I'm almost certain they'll develop into massive players for us over the next few years.

It would be an even bigger outlay for Falcao who is less than a year younger than Ba, so similarly would offer little future funancial return. Its clear we needed a couple more players in their mid/late 20's (peak) to help the balance within the squad and to big somebody up who fits this bracket, and is proven in the Prem for the price mentioned is good business.If Torres was firing we could look at bringing in another young striker alongside Lukaku for the future to take over from Torres but at this moment we need someone for the present who has the best opportunity to come in and perform immediately.

Second this - forget his knees, he has proven over the past couple of seasons he can play and train with no problems.To have been able to sign a player arguably in his prime, proven goalscorer in the Premier League for £7m in January is a steal! Just consider how much strikers have moved for between English clubs in recent seasons like Fletcher, Bent, Carroll and Torres and this screams value for money.

I think we were paying at least half his wages when he was at West Ham. His contract expires at the end of the season so we might aswell use him as a squad player and extra body in our team. I'd rather him than buy someone completely unproven at an inflated rate like Taison. For me the key to January is improving our squad in a cost effective manner then can take stock in the summer.

Higuain and Ba for around £30m makes more sense.than Falcao for £50m

Doubt we'd underestimate them - we've just rested half our squad for this game!

Sone sources I hear Newcastle were paying him £20k pw basic and £20k per appearance and we've offered to double both. Other sources I'm hearing £70-90k pw.

Of course it's more important...An FA Cup winners medal looks far better on his CV than any league position below first!