TRon

i think some people are getting carried away with just how much he wants to come back. or how more likely how serious our interest is.

That's one of the reasons I'm pretty happy with this signing. Top quality strikers are hard to find, and the Gameiro failure shows just how difficult it is to beat the rest of the pack to close a deal. How many alternatives have been proposed since that deal fell through? Ba is a good insurance policy.

Once I know we are in for him rather than going off the word of some random lad's mate seeing him at St James, I'll give this the thumbs up. Until then he's shit.

Considering he's been failing medicals since 2009 he's done alright. With the right clauses in the contract he's a great signing.

Nah, definitely more attacking from what he has said. right winger from the looks of it.

mind this is a lot of wild speculation based on someone's mate seeing Ba coming out of St James with NRC. They might just be mates

We saw how we were light in midfield when we lost Tiote through suspension, it's hard to attract someone who can play that role of decent calibre knowing they won't be first-choice, so someone like Reo-Coker who'll be free and can do a job when he's missing fits the bill imo. Also Tiote could well miss a few matches through international commitments and suspensions, never mind injuries and it's not the daftest move really.

I think it's similar to how Souness made Scott Parker look worse than he was by putting together mis-matched midfield pairings. Parker/Emre for example or the infamous Butt/Amdy Faye abomination. Sidwell and Coker would look shite but if you had NRC with Cabaye and HBA in front of him it wouldn't look so bad.

The only worry I'd have over Reo Coker arriving here would be that Big Mike might be more tempted to sell Tiote if the big money bids start flying in.

Guthrie is really good or really bad. Maybe with a little more time he can become consistant. Guthrie is a jack of all trades and a master of none. NRC could at least be a proper holding role alternative to Tiote.

Welcome aboard Reo Coker

as a back up to Tiote we could do worse.

There's more than enough in the pot to keep Barton and Nolan around as well as things stand. If we spend big money on another striker that might change of course but I'm not sure we will.

Didn't West Ham report Sunderland for trying to tap up Ba just last month? Looks like we've pulled a fast one over the unwashed once again.

These aren't too bad. I can think of a lot worse along the lines of Ba Ba...etc, but I don't want to incur flatline-esque ban calls.

Ba's not a premium quality striker like Gameiro would have been, but he has scored goals in the EPL. Not to mention he's cost nowt.

There's been enough hints elsewhere to suggest it's deal that's happening tbf. Got Ashley written all over it with the release clause.

If the rumours are true the next target is Demba Ba, and by all accounts as long as he gets a decent wedge and doesn't get told to fuck off with his gammy leg he'll not be too fussed I imagine.

Depends if Wenger spends like he says he finally will. and also whether King Kenny's re-modelling to a more solid, hard working Liverpool side comes off.

If they haven't even been in contact yet it would suggest they aren't really interested.

Spot on, can't believe who desperate some people seem to be to get rid. Even before Cabaye came here it was put forward that to play they type of football to get us into the top 6 would be difficult with a player like Nolan in the side unless you favour the sort of football Stoke play. So for me I'm very happy that Cabaye has been signed. Nolan isn't a bench player so it comes down to how realistic it is to keep him as a squad player if Cabaye is a success. Yes it's a risk to sign Cabaye but would you prefer we didn't take it?

Yeah i've always thought it sounded a bit far-fetched. They're primarily rivals in merchandising; they're still businessmen at the end of the day and when it comes to football, and particularly transfers, i don't think any animosity between the pair would have any sway on transactions. The reason why Wigan want more from the likes of us than the top four is obvious, it's purely because we're more of an immediate rival. I would ask a hell of a lot more from Liverpool for Enrique than i would Barcelona, for example. It's exactly the same thing. If they're primarily businessmen they'll take the best offer regardless of who it comes from. This talk about not selling to rivals is just a smokescreen imo. We could finish next season 6th with them 16th, you can't build a pricing structure on such vague terms.

I think the Ashley/Whelan rivalry has probably pushed the price up a couple of million. I'm pretty sure if Sunderland slapped in a £9million bid it would be accepted.

I think we might raise it depending on what Jose goes for, but it's going to be another long drawn out one. Can't see anyone paying much more than what we've offered tbh.

A search is quite revealing (and not just in that the search functioned actually worked). You're beating me 6 pages to 4 these days, when a few years ago I'm sure I would have had a comfortable lead. ...It is all very positive though, in regards to Cabaye and his comments. Granted you're not going to get a new signing saying anything other, but with the anticipated pairing of him and Tiote either as a two or in a three with one of Barton/Nolan or another new signing, we're not going to be shy of players wanting the ball and looking to take responsibility in there, while actually being capable of doing something when they have it as well. Will be nice. If he does manage to add a quality striker and another player capable of beating a man to play in front of them, things are looking very bright indeed. Couldn't agree more. There's no guarantee it will all work out in practice of course, but from my point of view that's exactly how I would want a team to be set up and with that outlook. It's a million miles from Joe Kinnear in the not so distant past.