Jype

Haven't seen him play so can't comment on his ablilities but to think a few more million could get us a proven top class player in Isco or even Willian makes me question this deal. If we're really buying this guy for £12m I seriously hope he has been thoroughly scouted to make sure he's good enough and able to make an impact.

What a debut for the lad. Could only watch the game on a laggy steam on my ipad so can't really say much about the game but I managed to see the goals and today I watched Ba's individual highlights fromt the game. Ladyboy's face was priceless after Demba's second goal. Tell me people, was that a player who's happy to see his team go 4-1 up?

Congrats Spike!

That's what you get when you carry the whole team on your back for a prolonged period of time. If he keeps on playing his back will be seriously fucked up soon.

Finally a proper striker, no more playing with ten men. Hopefully he begins his Chelsea career with a successfull performance tomorrow and benches the blonde cunt for good. Gutted I probably won't be able to watch his debut tomorrow.

Why would he? If anything, he should be getting excited about his chances of being a regular starter when he watched that shit for 90 minutes.

Nothing to see here, he was only at the game because of his mates SWP and Onuoha.

I wish I had some left too, smoked the rest of it on New Year's Eve. Oh well, might have to settle for some booze.

An average player does not score the third most Premier League goals in the past two years, being only behind Wayne Rooney and Robin Van Persie who everyone considers to be world class players. It's shocking how spoiled some people are when they are disappointed if we're not getting another £50m striker in Falcao. I don't know what more you can ask for in a January window than a cheap quality striker like Demba Ba who has been on top form this season.

Please tell me they're not selling Ba's shirts in the megastore already. Robinho, anyone?

SeB

Lukaku on the left wing now. What's the point in that?

Who cares what it does for Torres if it's for the good of the club?

Don't shoot the messenger, I'm just passing on the information brought to us by Daily Mail. Lately they have been right about stuff regarding Chelsea with Neil Ashton getting a lot of inside information from someone inside the club so it might just be true. The Mail are also telling Ba would earn £40k a week basic and then another £40k based on his fitness and performances. That would great IMO.

Demba Ba’s agents successfully held talks with Chelsea tonight who are expected to trigger his £7m release clause tomorrow [Daily Mail]

Haha, I know but I watched the game and in the end it was Drogba who knocked them out with one of his trademark big game performances. He scored two goals and that was it for the Senegal fans who started rioting and the game was abandoned. Btw, you forgot Kalou from your list.

Nope, Senegal didn't qualify as they were drawn against Drogba in the play offs.

Why wouldn't we be? This would be a perfect January signing and pretty much the best we can hope for. Players like Cavani or Falcao aren't realistic signings at the moment but considering the fact that someone has to be signed, I'd be very glad if it was Ba.

Is anyone really complaining though? To me it looks more like people are acknowledging the fact that there is a slight risk in buying Ba but I haven't seen many saying that the risk isn't worth taking.

Nope, haven't even made a bid yet, although with the buy out clause it's merely a formality if we agree a deal with the player and his agent. Considering the fact that he's failed two medicals in the last three years makes it hard to get excited before the deal is finalized by Chelsea. Personally I'd be more than willing to take the chance even with the injury record but the club may not think the same...

If he got a minor injury to keep him out for a couple of weeks it could even work out in our favour if he didn't go to the AFCON.

That's a very weak lineup for Everton compared to what they can deploy on a good day. No Fellaini, Mirallas, Gibson and Coleman for them. As for the Chelsea lineup, the lack of Mikel is bad and I'm not exactly looking forward to Ramires at RW either, although countering the threat Baines possesses is a key part of doing well in this game.

Before he joined Hoffenheim in the Bundesliga he was playing in Belgium where he suffered a serious injury to his knee that kept him out for 8 months and the word is that the surgeon who operated him fucked something up in his knee and another bad knock could easily mean the end of his career at top level. When he joined West Ham in January 2011 he was in fact on his way to Stoke and everything had been agreed but he failed the medical there and a quick check at Wikipedia tells me he also failed a medical at VfB Stuttgart in the summer of 2009. West Ham were desperate to get him to save them from relegation and didn't care about the injuries and Newcastle did brilliant business with little risk when they got him for free after West Ham were relegated. The dodgy knee is the only reason he is available so cheap, although some credit should be given to his agent who successfully negotiated a relegation release clause in his contract at West Ham and now this relatively low buy out clause at Newcastle.

Just because it's someone else's money doesn't mean we shouldn't care. I always want what's best for the club and sometimes signing all these hyped players on inflated transfer fees and unreasonable wages without thoroughly scouting if they really are the best choice for us won't do the club any good, in fact it may even cause disharmony within the squad if someone is paid twice the amount of money for being a worse player. I'm sure a player like Mata is not happy to earn only a third of Torres' wages despite contributing much more to the team, but Juan is too nice a guy to cause any problems over it. That may not be the case with all players and sometimes these expensive flops can really come and bite the club in the ass, in addition to them playing like shit of course. I'm not saying Cavani would be one of these flops, quite the opposite really because I feel he is one of the best players in the world and would even fit our team nicely, but all I'm saying is that the "it's not my money, so I don't have to give a fuck" attitude is just wrong. Also, some could argue that in the end it is the match going fans who pay for these players. If the club signs a couple of more Torres's they're only going to keep increasing the ticket prices etc. to make up for the lost money.