Ba going nowhere in January
Posted on January 10th, 2012 | 35 Comments |
On the back of my esteemed colleague’s recent posts regarding Demba Ba’s release clause and his PSG ambitions, it seems that clubs are queueing up to buy him. Or at least it looks that way if press reports are to be believed.
The release clause in his contract is either £10m, £7m, £5m or “less than £5m” depending upon which report you believe and how much creedence you give to Harry Redknapp’s comments.
Liverpool lead the suitors, which is probably no surprise given their proclivity for buying from Newcastle and in particular buying strikers from us in the January transfer window. Spurs are supposedly interested too and apparently Sunderland, Everton and QPR have had their interest piqued by the release clause’s alleged low value. You can see why when there’s seemingly an option to pick up a 15 goal (in half a season) striker for peanuts.
However, it’s worth remembering that all a release clause does is that it forces the selling the club to allow the player to enter into negotiations with the buying club once the fee in the release clause is met. The player can’t be forced to move against his will and there’s nothing to stop the selling club from trying to renegotiate some sort of contract to keep the player.
And Ba himself has said:
“I am in Newcastle, the fans like me, and the transfer market will be closed when I go back, so I am not focused on it. My first goal is the African Cup of Nations, and getting a good result, then I want to continue playing well for Newcastle.
“We have started something and I would like to go all the way with the club.”
So if we take what Ba said at face value and add into that the complications of the ACoN, I’ll stick my neck out and suggest that no club is going to be whisking Demba Ba away from us this January.
Furthermore, The Journal reports that Newcastle may indeed be looking to renegotiate Ba’s contract to have that release clause removed, or at least raised. Whether there’s any truth in the Journal’s report and we do renegotiate a contract remains to be seen, but I think we’ll have time beyond this month to do so if we wish. As it stands, the release clause is likely to have been a bargaining chip in Newcastle’s negotiation of Ba’s 3-year contract; apparently his salary is not particularly high but he’s on a a decent bonus scheme for goals and appearances and the release clause would be some form of ‘protection’ for him, allowing a relatively easy way to get out if for some reason he found himself on the sidelines.
I would suggest that enquiries have certainly been made about Ba though, otherwise I can’t see how Harry Redknapp claims to know so much about Demba Ba’s contract. Surely these things are confidential until a genuinely interested party makes some sort of formal enquiry, aren’t they?
so let’s shut up about it then, eh? There’s nowt to worry about except worry it’s self.
so then, where’s all these players our europe-wide super scouts have found for us? Let’s have other clubs worrying about us !