Demba Ba (now retired)

[Hughesy]

I really can't see any club being prepared to pay £7 million for him and pay him more than the £50k a week he is currently on. Whichever club he signs for will not be able to insure him, so I think it is just too much of a risk for any purchaser.

so have we insured him or not ?

 

As Roger says I assume.  Obviously I don't know for a fact, but I can't see an insurance company insuring a £7m signing (see Stoke transfer).  And if they do, I assume the premiums would be huge.

 

I reckon Ashley knows this and probably assumes that the list of clubs willing to take a chance on Demba isn't quite as long as the media and/or Demba's agents would like to make out. He is therefore unwilling to up Demba's already pretty decent salary after a good 1/2 to 2/3s of a season.

 

Again, how relevant is this? I imagine the premium for insuring professional footballer's wages and "value" is prohibitive in any case. Why would millionaire/billionaire owners of football clubs insure their assets per se when they know they only people making money from this is the insurance companies. If you have 30 professional players on the payroll you will always have one or two serious injuries. I imagine football clubs can do their own risk management when it comes to this without having to rely on handing over huge insurance premiums.

 

So you don't think that clubs take out insurance policies on their players ie their most valuable assets?  I can't believe that a club would spend millions of pounds on a player and agree a contract to pay him millions of pounds and then not take out insurance.

 

With Ba - I don't know if he is uninsurable or just that the premiums for a player with a degenerative knee problem are just very high.  Again, the risk of taking Ba on a free and possibly not insuring him/or paying higher premiums are not nearly the same as a club buying Ba for 7m and paying wages in excess of 50k a week.

 

I could be wrong on all this - but it seems to me to be common sense.

[Unbelievable]

I really can't see any club being prepared to pay £7 million for him and pay him more than the £50k a week he is currently on. Whichever club he signs for will not be able to insure him, so I think it is just too much of a risk for any purchaser.

so have we insured him or not ?

 

As Roger says I assume.  Obviously I don't know for a fact, but I can't see an insurance company insuring a £7m signing (see Stoke transfer).  And if they do, I assume the premiums would be huge.

 

I reckon Ashley knows this and probably assumes that the list of clubs willing to take a chance on Demba isn't quite as long as the media and/or Demba's agents would like to make out. He is therefore unwilling to up Demba's already pretty decent salary after a good 1/2 to 2/3s of a season.

 

Again, how relevant is this? I imagine the premium for insuring professional footballer's wages and "value" is prohibitive in any case. Why would millionaire/billionaire owners of football clubs insure their assets per se when they know they only people making money from this is the insurance companies. If you have 30 professional players on the payroll you will always have one or two serious injuries. I imagine football clubs can do their own risk management when it comes to this without having to rely on handing over huge insurance premiums.

 

So you don't think that clubs take out insurance policies on their players ie their most valuable assets?  I can't believe that a club would spend millions of pounds on a player and agree a contract to pay him millions of pounds and then not take out insurance.

 

With Ba - I don't know if he is uninsurable or just that the premiums for a player with a degenerative knee problem are just very high.  Again, the risk of taking Ba on a free and possibly not insuring him/or paying higher premiums are not nearly the same as a club buying Ba for 7m and paying wages in excess of 50k a week.

 

I could be wrong on all this - but it seems to me to be common sense.

 

I have always been thought that you take out insurance to cover for risks where the costs are so high you cannot reasonably expect to recover from it when it happens. Hence you take out health insurance in case you get seriously ill and need expensive treatment, but you don't necessarily take out insurance on your 200 GBP bike, because you could afford to buy a new one if needed. Now, I am just a small business man compared to the likes of Mike Ashley, but this is certainly how I approach insurance in my business too. I can't imagine a self made billionaire being so risk averse that he would take out insurance against something that for him (relatively speaking) is effectively a 200 pound bike. And that's before taking into account that he has 30 bikes and can only use 11 at any one time (or 16 if you include the subs).

[Dinho lad]

I really can't see any club being prepared to pay £7 million for him and pay him more than the £50k a week he is currently on.  Whichever club he signs for will not be able to insure him, so I think it is just too much of a risk for any purchaser.

 

PSG.

[STM]

Not too worried to be honest. If he goes, I just hope we replace him.

[Guest MrSundlofer]

I really can't see any club being prepared to pay £7 million for him and pay him more than the £50k a week he is currently on.  Whichever club he signs for will not be able to insure him, so I think it is just too much of a risk for any purchaser.

 

PSG.

 

No. Don't think he's the player Ancelotti needs.

[Super Duper Branko Strupar]

Demba Ba ‏@dembabafoot

I love "san antonio SPURS"

[James]

All our players are insured to protect their transfer fee and cover wages while injured and also to provide compo to players that get injured if career ending.

 

It is unknown whether West Ham have insured Demba Ba but we have.

 

Ba has a release clause because he needs to be affordable if he wants out.

 

As stated by the club insider, Ba would cost the buyer £20m up front based on the club knowing the percentage premiums they have to pay at the moment and factoring that onto the transfer fee, expected wage increase, contract length, and agent fees.

[Wallsendmag]

Not too worried to be honest. If he goes, I just hope we replace him.

 

This. I have trust in our scouting team that should we lose him we will go out and get ourselves a replacement who will do a good job for us and is preferably not African so that both our front two don't disappear mid season. He had a purple patch from the back end of September through to January but from the beginning of the season up until we played Blackburn on 24th September he hadn't scored a single goal for us and his performances had been awful. He then went 3 months from the beginning of February until the end of the season without hitting the back of the net either. I rate him as a player and i'd love him to stay but out of him, Cisse and Ben Arfa if we were to lose one of them I would want it to be him every time as I think he'll be much easier to replace than the other 2. Whether someone is willing to pay £7m+ for a player with a huge question mark over his knee and who will more than likely not pass a medical is another matter altogether.

[Chase]

It's odd how six months ago we'd have been bricking ourselves at the thought of him leaving yet with the emergence of Cisse suddenly it's not a big deal.

[SUPERTOON]

I want him to stay, but his departure would be the perfect opportunity to buy someone to play the left forward role, and therefore allow us to play our best formation.

[Super Duper Branko Strupar]

Demba Ba ‏@dembabafoot

I love "san antonio SPURS"

 

He does love his NBA.

 

Just wondering why there was any need to capitalise 'Spurs'

[Cronky]

All our players are insured to protect their transfer fee and cover wages while injured and also to provide compo to players that get injured if career ending.

 

It is unknown whether West Ham have insured Demba Ba but we have.

 

Ba has a release clause because he needs to be affordable if he wants out.

 

As stated by the club insider, Ba would cost the buyer £20m up front based on the club knowing the percentage premiums they have to pay at the moment and factoring that onto the transfer fee, expected wage increase, contract length, and agent fees.

 

It would surprise me if all our players were insured. We signed a player with a broken leg not long ago, so exactly how any insurance company would set a premium, I don't know.

 

With clubs who can't afford to lose money, they usually get any new signing insured, and the medical takes place as reassurance all round that the player isn't a bad risk. Obviously some transfers with some clubs do flounder on that point. We seem to be prepared to take risks on a player's recovery to a far greater degree than any other club I know.

[Mike]

Demba Ba ‏@dembabafoot

I love "san antonio SPURS"

 

Felipao will be devastated.

[Wallsendmag]

It's odd how six months ago we'd have been bricking ourselves at the thought of him leaving yet with the emergence of Cisse suddenly it's not a big deal.

 

Six months ago he was our main striker but now he isn't. In fact he hasn't even scored in the latter half of those 6 months. I don't think anyone would want to see him leave but if he wants to go then that's fair enough. If we sign a good replacement I won't have any complaints. If a player doesn't want to stay then I always think it's better to let him go anyway so if that does turn out to be the case then it's Thanks very much and goodbye Demba.

[Mike]

Demba Ba ‏@dembabafoot

I love "san antonio SPURS"

 

He does love his NBA.

 

Just wondering why there was any need to capitalise 'Spurs'

 

They're kind of Shit hot at the moment, maybe he's screaming.

[Guest MrSundlofer]

Demba Ba ‏@dembabafoot

I love "san antonio SPURS"

 

He does love his NBA.

 

Just wondering why there was any need to capitalise 'Spurs'

 

A "correction" from his previous tweet to clarify he doesn't refer to the football club Tottenham Spurs, bu the basketball club San Antonio Spurs:

 

Demba Ba ‏@dembabafoot

OKC or SAS to play the nba final. I love SPURS because of tony parker but OKC is on fire!!!

[wormy]

Should capitalise the San Antonio of that's what he's clearing up tbh. He's off.

[Stuy_O]

PSG or Spurs.... hope its the former. If we can get a good replacement thats the main thing.

[Guest MrSundlofer]

david pick ‏@davidpick1987

@dembabafoot if a newspaper picks up on "I love SPURS" Harry'll get a hard-on lol.

 

Demba Ba ‏@dembabafoot

@davidpick1987 you right dude

[Stu]

Ba toon doubts 

 

As expected, speculation over the future of Newcastle striker Demba Ba is continuing to provide column inches for journalists in the close season.

 

The Senegal international striker who turns 27 on Friday is under contract at SJP for another two seasons, but that deal includes a £7m release clause, as 'Arry Redknapp helpfully revealed back in January: 

 

From The Telegraph, Thursday:

 

Newcastle....could have tried to remove the clause by offering the Senegal international an increase in his £50,000 weekly wage.

 

But managing director Derek Llambias will not be forced into offering improved terms to a player after just 12 successful months as he feels this would be a dangerous precedent.

 

As a result, Ba, will be able to talk to any club who bids £7million when the transfer window opens next month, with Tottenham, Chelsea and Manchester United already linked to him.

 

... there is a chance Ba will find it difficult to complete a move because of long-standing medical concerns.... insurance could still be a problem for any interested parties to activate the release clause.

 

Given what we've seen in the five years that Mike Ashley has been in control of this club, the separate elements of this story all look to build up into something substantial:

 

1. Ba's age is at the upper end of the club's squad profile.

 

2. Despite his availability to play throughout last season, concerns over his fitness do remain and his knee issue has been described as a degenerative one ie it won't improve.

 

3. Assuming his selection for Senegal, Ba faces a further absence next season for African Nations Cup final duty - along with fellow forward Papiss Cisse. That's not a particularly satisfactory situation if it can be avoided.

 

4. A reluctance to offer a wage increase and saddle the club with another long-term high earner, plus a desire to avoid a domino effect amongst the squad - the days of "highest earner" deals and parity-type contracts are over.

 

5. A reluctance to be dictated to by agents - it was reported that Ba's advisors were seeking to renegotiate terms with NUFC - something that a number of other players tried and failed to achieve ie Barton, Nolan etc.

Tiote's extended deal by contrast came out of the blue and was awarded to him by the club.

 

It's not beyond the realms of possibility that Ba's failure to find the net in the closing stages of last season could  count against him in terms of a similar new deal 'reward' - despite the team benefit his performances provided.   

 

6. The availability of younger strikers playing international football for European nations, who can be recruited on smaller wages and contracts more in favour of NUFC eg Luuk De Jong (Twente) and Bas Dost (Heerenveen). They also potentially have a higher sell-on value, if they make a successful transition to the Premier League.

 

7. The availability of strikers who were previously scouted/ approached by United who for various reasons weren't acquired previously eg Modibo Maiga (wage demands too high) and Kevin Gameiro (opted to join PSG instead but is now seemingly on his way out of there).

 

8. In twelve months time the player will be a year older, may have continued the poor run of goalscoring form of the second half of last season and may not have other clubs chasing him - especially if his fitness has declined.

 

And if the sell-on clause means that United can't profit from a bidding war among other clubs, then theoretically they could use the situation to their advantage if a player at one of those clubs is a transfer target - or there's a fight on between United and one of those clubs to sign something from a different club. 

 

9. A previously-stated desire by the club to trade but maintain their competitiveness: putting aside a repeat of the Carroll mega bid scenario for Cisse, doing a deal for Ba could be the least-worst scenario, although we remain apprehensive about both Tiote and Krul's futures.   

 

10. The exception to many of the previous points is Fabricio Coloccini, who successfully won a new four year deal back in March at the age of 30.

 

The public support of and praise for his captain by Alan Pardew suggests though that Colo was his "first pick" and he used up his wild card on pushing that deal through.     

 

Putting all that together, it can be argued that to not get rid of Demba Ba would be against the club's stated policy for transfer dealings. Equally however, a new contract for the player could just as easily be announced tomorrow...

 

PS: Ba and compatriot Papiss Cisse were due to be in friendly action for Senegal against Egypt today, but that match was postponed due to a dispute over the venue.

 

Senegal play World Cup Qualifiers against Liberia and Uganda early next month, but there seems to some dispute over who will be in their side - with claims on African websites that Ba hadn't responded to his callup invitation and it was uncertain whether he'd feature.

 

.com's take on it

[Crumpy Gunt]

Ba toon doubts 

 

As expected, speculation over the future of Newcastle striker Demba Ba is continuing to provide column inches for journalists in the close season.

 

The Senegal international striker who turns 27 on Friday is under contract at SJP for another two seasons, but that deal includes a £7m release clause, as 'Arry Redknapp helpfully revealed back in January: 

 

From The Telegraph, Thursday:

 

Newcastle....could have tried to remove the clause by offering the Senegal international an increase in his £50,000 weekly wage.

 

But managing director Derek Llambias will not be forced into offering improved terms to a player after just 12 successful months as he feels this would be a dangerous precedent.

 

As a result, Ba, will be able to talk to any club who bids £7million when the transfer window opens next month, with Tottenham, Chelsea and Manchester United already linked to him.

 

... there is a chance Ba will find it difficult to complete a move because of long-standing medical concerns.... insurance could still be a problem for any interested parties to activate the release clause.

 

Given what we've seen in the five years that Mike Ashley has been in control of this club, the separate elements of this story all look to build up into something substantial:

 

1. Ba's age is at the upper end of the club's squad profile.

 

2. Despite his availability to play throughout last season, concerns over his fitness do remain and his knee issue has been described as a degenerative one ie it won't improve.

 

3. Assuming his selection for Senegal, Ba faces a further absence next season for African Nations Cup final duty - along with fellow forward Papiss Cisse. That's not a particularly satisfactory situation if it can be avoided.

 

4. A reluctance to offer a wage increase and saddle the club with another long-term high earner, plus a desire to avoid a domino effect amongst the squad - the days of "highest earner" deals and parity-type contracts are over.

 

5. A reluctance to be dictated to by agents - it was reported that Ba's advisors were seeking to renegotiate terms with NUFC - something that a number of other players tried and failed to achieve ie Barton, Nolan etc.

Tiote's extended deal by contrast came out of the blue and was awarded to him by the club.

 

It's not beyond the realms of possibility that Ba's failure to find the net in the closing stages of last season could  count against him in terms of a similar new deal 'reward' - despite the team benefit his performances provided.   

 

6. The availability of younger strikers playing international football for European nations, who can be recruited on smaller wages and contracts more in favour of NUFC eg Luuk De Jong (Twente) and Bas Dost (Heerenveen). They also potentially have a higher sell-on value, if they make a successful transition to the Premier League.

 

7. The availability of strikers who were previously scouted/ approached by United who for various reasons weren't acquired previously eg Modibo Maiga (wage demands too high) and Kevin Gameiro (opted to join PSG instead but is now seemingly on his way out of there).

 

8. In twelve months time the player will be a year older, may have continued the poor run of goalscoring form of the second half of last season and may not have other clubs chasing him - especially if his fitness has declined.

 

And if the sell-on clause means that United can't profit from a bidding war among other clubs, then theoretically they could use the situation to their advantage if a player at one of those clubs is a transfer target - or there's a fight on between United and one of those clubs to sign something from a different club. 

 

9. A previously-stated desire by the club to trade but maintain their competitiveness: putting aside a repeat of the Carroll mega bid scenario for Cisse, doing a deal for Ba could be the least-worst scenario, although we remain apprehensive about both Tiote and Krul's futures.   

 

10. The exception to many of the previous points is Fabricio Coloccini, who successfully won a new four year deal back in March at the age of 30.

 

The public support of and praise for his captain by Alan Pardew suggests though that Colo was his "first pick" and he used up his wild card on pushing that deal through.     

 

Putting all that together, it can be argued that to not get rid of Demba Ba would be against the club's stated policy for transfer dealings. Equally however, a new contract for the player could just as easily be announced tomorrow...

 

PS: Ba and compatriot Papiss Cisse were due to be in friendly action for Senegal against Egypt today, but that match was postponed due to a dispute over the venue.

 

Senegal play World Cup Qualifiers against Liberia and Uganda early next month, but there seems to some dispute over who will be in their side - with claims on African websites that Ba hadn't responded to his callup invitation and it was uncertain whether he'd feature.

 

.com's take on it

 

So, if I get this right ...

 

He'll either..

 

Go for £7m, or ...

 

He'll sign a new contract and stay?

 

Would have saved the .com boys a little time and effort.

[Stu]

I think they did a decent job of highlighting the pros and cons tbh

[Punk77]

I want him to stay, but his departure would be the perfect opportunity to buy someone to play the left forward role, and therefore allow us to play our best formation.

 

No! We want to keep both. As Pards said, the schedule is very tough next seaon and he'll have to rotate players.  His challenge is getting Ba, Cisse, HBA  and Colo to understand that they cannot play every match.. There will be plenty of games for everbody. If we sell Ba, we'll only have one good central attacker left. The backup is rubbish. With Mav back and the signing of Rameiro we now have the squad depth to rest our  best players when possible.

[Consortium of one]

Ba casts doubt over Newcastle future by refusing to renegotiate contract

 

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/ba-casts-doubt-over-his-newcastle-845533

 

Wow.  I love the quotes from HBA.

[wormy]

I want him to stay, but his departure would be the perfect opportunity to buy someone to play the left forward role, and therefore allow us to play our best formation.

 

No! We want to keep both. As Pards said, the schedule is very tough next seaon and he'll have to rotate players.  His challenge is getting Ba, Cisse, HBA  and Colo to understand that they cannot play every match.. There will be plenty of games for everbody. If we sell Ba, we'll only have one good central attacker left. The backup is rubbish. With Mav back and the signing of Rameiro we now have the squad depth to rest our  best players when possible.

 

Firstly, I don't want those last 3 rotated to the point that it has to be a challenge to make them realise there's a need to be rotated. Or is this the 'we're good enough to rest our first teamers against the likes of Wigan' thing again? Second, if we go out and get a more suited player for that left hand side of a 433, do you really think Ba will be content sat on the bench waiting for Cisse to tire/get injured? Yes, we need good back up, but you're mad if you think we're at the point of being able to hold onto players like Ba for that kind of role, particularly when he was our main man barely six months ago. Guthrie won't even do it ffs.