Unbelievable

What outcome? It's far from certain we will even sign Debuchy or that Ba will leave and that's before we even get into any other transfers that may or may not happen.. Outgoings and incomings by the end of the transfer window, updating the question every time a player leaves or arrives, plus strong rumours. I'm sure there will be a transfer window thread where things like this will be discussed.

What outcome? It's far from certain we will even sign Debuchy or that Ba will leave and that's before we even get into any other transfers that may or may not happen..

Ba's versatility is really a moot point as he refuses to play anywhere else Anyway i don't think there's a great deal of difference between Ba and Cisse as central strikers i personally believe with Ba in the middle with Ben Arfa and Remy either side of him ( for example) we would be successful and same with Cisse instead of Ba. The point really is that Ba and Cisse can't co-exist so it's one or the other and as i said it was always obvious what the board would do. I agree Ba wasn't holding Cabaye and the likes back.... hoofing and 4-4-2 was doing that, i also agree my main concern is being more solid defensively hopefully signing Debuchy and a CB will help in that regard. I don't really agree with it all i'm just why its happened as said before i would have liked to seen Ba stay and rotate with Cisse for a central spot and buy a couple of wide players but that wasn't going to happen. I know it seems i'm very casual about the whole situation but that's because Cisse has been limited all season firstly by tactics and then by his position and i believe with him going back to the centre will result in a glut of goals. I'm also confident that a forward in the mould of Remy will be brought in i know that's dangerous under this regime but i don't believe Ashley will risk the possibility of relegation with all that TV money coming in. Ba's versatility is not a moot point. It allows us to play one or two strikers up top, which Cisse's lack of versatility apparently does not. Also, Ba may not want to play in a position that he does not enjoy and feels does not allow him to contribute as much as he can. I don't think that's unreasonable. How would Cabaye cope with being played at left back for half a season, or Colo at left wing? I think you can ask a player to help out for a short while in case of injuries or other unforeseen circumstances, but not for month after month and even after we've had a transfer window to rectify any emergency that may have been there.

Ba and his clause have been systematically undermining AP since the summer "Play me centrally, keep me happy and I might not leave" "Play me left with Papiss getting all of the glory and I'm off" anybody whinger over him need to get a f***ing grip- look at the league table- hes been contributing to s*** results- f*** him- may as well try and change- I think cisse will be better, and results will improve. you think he has contributed to good results? This just gets worse and worse. Should we just fire all our players as they have contributed to bad results? Fact is very few of our so called purple players have played to their ability this season, and Ba just happens to be one of the few who have.

Ba and his clause have been systematically undermining AP since the summer "Play me centrally, keep me happy and I might not leave" "Play me left with Papiss getting all of the glory and I'm off" anybody whinger over him need to get a f***ing grip- look at the league table- hes been contributing to s*** results- f*** him- may as well try and change- I think cisse will be better, and results will improve.

Then Cisse picks up a knock and our replacements are Shola or Ranger. Goal explosion!! I actually think Shola would do a job with that type of service For the last 20 minutes of every match at a push. Who would you have play the first 70?

Neither of them are capable well Ba is capable but he refuses to do so..... Only one of them should be in the line up in this day and age and considering Ba has a release clause and is asking for well beyond double what Cisse earns and Ba cost nothing and Cisse cost 10m it was quite obvious who Ashley would prefer to be moved on. You can't play with 2 pure "9s" these days be successful so get the most possible potential of the team and i emphasis the word " team". eventually one of them would have to be moved on for someone who could fit into the team fabric because it's quite painfully obvious that Ba and Cisse cannot co-exist. We've been over this specific point before, so not going into this again. My post was in reply to people stating Ba was holding players like Krul, Colo, Cabaye and Ben Arfa back, which is quite frankly bullshit. Demba Ba's versatility meant we could play any system/formation we wanted with him up top and he would stick most chances that came his way in the net. Not sure what more you'd expect a striker to do. Surely hope Cisse is capable of just that when we'll be pinning all our hopes on him to score the goals to keep us up. If anything, we're snookered if we can't get the 433/451 to work for us in terms of being more solid defensively (which has to be a real worry after what we've seen this season whenever we've deployed that system), as we'll be stuck with a 10 million forward who can only play central on his own and is fairly useless outside of that formation.

Wat? instead of playing to ba's strengths we can play to the teams strengths which will benefit colo, cabaye, ben arfa, cisse. not sure about the krul bit mind. Not sure what Ba's strengths are in this context that are keeping all those players back? Sticking the ball in the net? If anything he has proven to be much more versatile than other strikers we have recently seen, not less. to me it means playing him centrally to the detriment of the team as a whole. Playing a brilliant striker centrally, who has done better than 1 in 2 in the Premiership over a period spanning two years? One who can do the job as part of a front two, but can equally lead the line on his own? A striker who is good in the air, decent at holding the ball up and getting other people involved in play, a great finisher and a real winner on the pitch? Aye, I can see how playing such a player in his preferred position has gone to the detriment of the team as a whole. The fact is if Cisse wasn't completely incapable of playing as part of a front two or being able to adapt to another position temporarily to help out the team if required people wouldn't come out with such frankly mindblowing stuff about Ba. That's a reflection on Cisse's ability and adaptability first and foremost, not Ba's.

Wat? instead of playing to ba's strengths we can play to the teams strengths which will benefit colo, cabaye, ben arfa, cisse. not sure about the krul bit mind. Not sure what Ba's strengths are in this context that are keeping all those players back? Sticking the ball in the net? If anything he has proven to be much more versatile than other strikers we have recently seen, not less.

Wat?

We're not a selling club, we're a penny pinching club.

I get the gist of it, but he was never wanting to stay here long term. He engineered a move out of Hoffenheim, came to us with that ludicrous clause (cause he held all the cards and wanted a buying club not to be held to ransom) and now will be getting is one last big pay off. Nobody can begrude a player a chance to secure income for later life but to make out he we could have kept him is false imo. We'll never know for certain whether Ba could have been convinced to sign a contract without the clause as none of us are privy to information regarding the contract negotiations that went on. What we do know for certain is that Ashley has stopped investing in the club after the first two seasons or so, despite his promise of a yearly investment of 20 million. There are a lot of things to applaud in our approach to finances, but ultimately we are doomed for midtable mediocrity as long as we can't compete for players with the clubs above us.

Well, that part was a bit strange in the context of a Demba Ba to Chelsea thread, but not factually incorrect when you consider our transfer spending and wage ceiling compared to Premiership mid ranking clubs.

and again it's us who ends up a striker down Maybe we'll look at taking West Ham's striker again in the summer..

Will be delighted with that but obviously we need more. Delighted? We'd be a Cisse knock away from relegation contenders. Edit: didn't read correctly.

He's going to a team that wins things, if it was QPR I would have been first in line to shoot him with s*** but can you blame a player for wanting to play for a team who will challenge for stuff? To be fair he did say criticism not abuse. Can't blame him for leaving but don't feel upset about it either. We did get him to where he is though so I think Dinho is right in saying the favour was mutual rather than Saint Ba honouring us with his grace and blessings. We did?

Better striker than Torres for the past two years. Don't see why people assume he will not play. http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01514/Roman-Abramovich_1514495c.jpg Your point being they can afford any striker in the world? Whilst that is true I think people underestimate Ba. He's proven to be one of the very best strikers in the Premiership over the course of the last two seasons, especially first half of last season and this. Playing in a better team that create loads more chances, I wouldn't be surprised if he gave Van Persie a run for his money for Premiership top goalscorer. My point being he will want Torres playing. Ah, that's fair enough then. I feel Ba has enough quality to displace Torres from the first team though. He will just have to prove himself all over again, which I guess is part of the attraction as far as he is concerned. Chelsea don't need Ba as an out and out striker as much as we did though as they have goals all over the pitch. Torres has started scoring recently though no where near as prolific as Ba. Even so Torres offers more than Ba in terms of overall play and he generally contributes a lot at times having major impact on games that he doesn't score in. It's more probable that Ba will offer goals off the bench when Chelsea are struggling to get past stubborn defences like Stoke. Something you need in all title-winning sides. Again I think that is an underestimation of Ba. He's a much better, more allround footballer than some people on here give him credit for. He's clueless , you just have to watch him especially with his back to goal, even if he's on the halfway line 95 percent of the time will always decide to try and spin his marker and run towards goal and ultimately run into a brick wall then fall on his ass.

Better striker than Torres for the past two years. Don't see why people assume he will not play. http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01514/Roman-Abramovich_1514495c.jpg Your point being they can afford any striker in the world? Whilst that is true I think people underestimate Ba. He's proven to be one of the very best strikers in the Premiership over the course of the last two seasons, especially first half of last season and this. Playing in a better team that create loads more chances, I wouldn't be surprised if he gave Van Persie a run for his money for Premiership top goalscorer. My point being he will want Torres playing. Ah, that's fair enough then. I feel Ba has enough quality to displace Torres from the first team though. He will just have to prove himself all over again, which I guess is part of the attraction as far as he is concerned. Chelsea don't need Ba as an out and out striker as much as we did though as they have goals all over the pitch. Torres has started scoring recently though no where near as prolific as Ba. Even so Torres offers more than Ba in terms of overall play and he generally contributes a lot at times having major impact on games that he doesn't score in. It's more probable that Ba will offer goals off the bench when Chelsea are struggling to get past stubborn defences like Stoke. Something you need in all title-winning sides. Again I think that is an underestimation of Ba. He's a much better, more allround footballer than some people on here give him credit for.

Better striker than Torres for the past two years. Don't see why people assume he will not play. http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01514/Roman-Abramovich_1514495c.jpg Your point being they can afford any striker in the world? Whilst that is true I think people underestimate Ba. He's proven to be one of the very best strikers in the Premiership over the course of the last two seasons, especially first half of last season and this. Playing in a better team that create loads more chances, I wouldn't be surprised if he gave Van Persie a run for his money for Premiership top goalscorer. My point being he will want Torres playing. Ah, that's fair enough then. I feel Ba has enough quality to displace Torres from the first team though. He will just have to prove himself all over again, which I guess is part of the attraction as far as he is concerned.

Better striker than Torres for the past two years. Don't see why people assume he will not play. http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01514/Roman-Abramovich_1514495c.jpg Your point being they can afford any striker in the world? Whilst that is true I think people underestimate Ba. He's proven to be one of the very best strikers in the Premiership over the course of the last two seasons, especially first half of last season and this. Playing in a better team that create loads more chances, I wouldn't be surprised if he gave Van Persie a run for his money for Premiership top goalscorer.

Better striker than Torres for the past two years. Don't see why people assume he will not play.

Which would be fair enough considering it's Chelsea, but even if he did only move for money, wouldn't you? Multiple clubs appear to be willing to pay him what he wants, so he's obviously worth it. Point your blame at Ashley, not Ba.