Would Ba join PSG? “Yes, why not?” says Ba

Posted on January 9th, 2012 | 85 Comments |

Demba Ba.
Ba: Ready for slow Parisian seduction?
Oh dear.

On the verge of Demba Ba’s departure for the African Cup of Nations, Newcastle United striker, Demba Ba gave an interview for French sports radio station, RMC. When asked by the station if he could join moneybags Paris St Germain, the Carlo Ancelotti managed Manchester City of France’s Ligue Un, our goalscorer in chief gave the somewhat worrying reply:

“Yes why not, it’s possible.”

“I have always supported the PSG, and it’s a club that is enticing.”

However he then added that his attendence at the ACoN would probably preclude a move in this January transfer window, saying:

“But it will be difficult to do that in January.

“I am in Newcastle, fans like me, and then the transfer market will be closed when I go back to the NPC, so I’m not focused on it.”

“My first goal is the ACN and getting a good result, then I want to continue making good games for Newcastle. I’d like to go to the end.”

The end of what he didn’t say, though he could have meant the end of the season, or the end of the ACoN?

As I wrote in a previous story, the player has also been the subject of recent speculation regarding whether there is a release clause in his contract, and if so, how much it might be for and what it is conditional on which you can read all about there.

While Newcastle have used the lure of English Premiership football to feed from other French Ligue 1 clubs where players are usually on lower wages in a league which is generally less lucrative than the Premiership, the now Qatari owned Paris St Germain are the exception, with the boot being on the other foot so to speak in terms of relative financial muscle.

As I wrote above, the club have retained the services of ex A.C. Milan and Chelsea manager, Carlo Ancelloti, and are willing to to vye with clubs such as Manchester City and Real Madrid in terms of paying huge amounts to make themselves a force on the European stage. If the club were to make an aggressive move for the highly prolific goalscorer, they would undoubtedly be able to put together the kind of financial package which would be hard for almost any player, or club, to resist. However whilst Ba seems to be looking at the Paris club with “come to bed” eyes, nothing much has been said from the PSG camp.

Lets hope that it stays that way!

NUFCBlog Author: workyticket workyticket has written 1095 articles on this blog.

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Comment on this post

85 Responses

  1. Worky? 4am what you doing up at this small hour? Is babestation keeping you up?

  2. I have a nocturnal rhythm gannin’ on ATM (that isn’t a euphemism BTW). Got about two hours kip the other night, fell asleep for a bit late yesterday evening and that buggered up my sleep pattern again, so I thought I’d do another Ba blog about the latest gossip. Now I’m getting some e.mails done.

    Is it “Babestation” that keeping you “up” ATM Stephen? :-)

  3. “My first goal is the ACN and getting a good result, then I want to continue making good games for Newcastle. I’d like to go to the end.”

    The end of what he didn’t say, though he could have meant the end of the season?’

    Surely he meant to the end of the ACN?

  5. I hope Ba stays with us but if he goes he goes and I have seen that many players leave Newcastle and end up shite that I think if we can get one maybe two good seasons out of him and then sell him off for 20 mill we can consider it a good period in our club and fund us another star. He has only been with us a year and we only got him because he was free. He is also apparently on somewhat of a pay as you play deal and maybe that is just his bonuses but he does not really owe us anything but 100% effort on the pitch whilst he is our and so far he has done that.

  6. Why is every time we have a player who becomes great teams sniff around and people ask those players if they would play for a bigger team. It really grinds my gears.

  7. No matter what he means, the board must have a replacement alligned ASAP. Ba is not likely staying beyond next summer.

  8. Charlietoon says:

    January 9, 2012 at 5:44 am

    “He is also apparently on somewhat of a pay as you play deal and maybe that is just his bonuses but he does not really owe us anything but 100% effort on the pitch whilst he is our and so far he has done that.”

    Charlietoon, I’m not absolutely certain, but some strong sources said that he was offered £50,000 per week and £500,000 bonus if he would ignore his relegation get out clause and stay on at West Ham. They did gave Nolan a very good deal in the same area so I didn’t discount it. He might be on “pay as you play” because of the knee worries, but I think he’s on a pretty good deal in comparison with the usual Ashley offers!

  9. No player last for ever anyway and Ba apperently have very little loyalty, we wouldnt have gotten him in the first place if he did… After all, he has been rejected at clubs on the ground of his medical condition, yet all clubs who have taken a chance with him seem to be rewarded with this. That said, we have only ourselves to blame for giving him a contract with a minimum fee release as low as 5 million (Oh and i hate Harry Redknapp with a vengeance).

  10. Worky ive have a nocturnal rhythm full stop.

    as for babe station, i’ve found a website offering free codes for nightly viewing on freeview. it certainly works
    ;-).

    As for Ba, being religious myself i tend to sit on the fence a lot. i don’t want to offend anyone and when asked a question i never want to disappoint so i give a fence sitter answer(or so im told, nothing wrong with keeping the peace). to be honest although Ba doesn’t seem like he lacks any kind of intellectual ability his religion will be his No.1 priority although i’m not a Muslim and not a devout Christian in anyway i still have faith, and with it morals and values.
    although Ba may have maybe been a little more politically correct in his reply i.e. keep his employers happy, in a world where religion seems so much you can hardly blame him for giving an honest answer or not wanting to offend anyone at PSG or anyone else for that matter.

    his full statement does seem to mention everyone, we love him, he likes Newcastle, but what the future holds is unknown. so i think either nothing will become of this or he will be shipped out fined and we lose are top goal scorer.
    i don’t think Mike or Lamearse will be too happy, going off past experiences with players.
    if a zero tolerance approach is taken to impromptu statements then Ba will be on his way before end of Jan for sure
    which will be a shame as i’ve just spent nearly £500 on getting “Mamma Ba’s Strawberry syrup” logo patented and ready for sale. nowt like cashing in on the masses.

  11. The two good things about Ashley selling Carroll was (a) all clubs now know Newcastle United is run by hard nosed barstewards, are no longer a soft touch and they don’t sell cheap and (b) would Ba have got a game if Carroll was still at the club, probably not.

    The conclusion is that we sold a player who cost nowt for £35m upfront (plus late payment penalty) and replaced him with a player who also cost nowt (ignoring signing on and agency fees of course) who is now worth probably not less than £35m. We must now be the envy of almost every Premier League club, especially those trying to balance the books, which is almost all of them.

    I remember Lawro saying on MOTD quite a few months ago that perhaps Newcastle have a successful buying / selling model that has just alerted all other clubs to.

    I thought Ba was being very honest and why wouldn’t he be given that he is a French speaker and PSG are going to be the next Man City as the Qatar sovereign fund own 70% of the club.

    We have to accept, and I know many Ashley haters will never, that Ashley through excellent scouting, excellent coaching and better winter training facilities is turning our club around from being a laughing stock to one that many outsiders are now praising. As a result the club will come under increasing scrutiny by other clubs and journalists but will also tempt I’m sure some agents to peddle their Newcastle players to the highest bidder.

  12. if anyone is in Northumberland Street tell Sir Richard Branson to buy that building at the top of the hill

  13. Stephen,

    If many think Ashley is bad, then you don’t want Branson.

    He is a thoroughly nasty piece of work. Comes across all lovey dovey in his wholly jumper, forget it. He is as objectionable as any billionaire can be. Given the opportunity, he will rename the stadium and will have Virgin billboards all over the place. People like Branson and Ashley are all the same, self made billionaires who get what they want and walk over who ever gets in their way. Money (and lots of it) and power is their creed.

    Whoever buys the club is unlikely to be a cross between Nelson Mandela and Mother Teresa.

    Beware what you wish for.

  14. Kamar

    if you ever speak to anyone who works at one of his busineses they will tell you he treats his staff with up most respect. the benefits he gives are fantastic.

    yes billionares are there because they know how to make and break. but i would rather have someone like Sir Richard at the helm than Mike Ashley.

    Sir Richard hasnt had to stoop to child labour to make his billions, he made it by breaking his back in a record shop and he even used to do the live window himself.(a bit like Fenwick window at Christmas) sir richard is a breath of fresh air.

    but yes he might be ruthless at times but that doesn’t mean he is a nasty piece of work. IMO Virgin is a name worthy of plastering on the side of SJP and if i had a choice would swap it any day. sports direct child labor crass or a business owned by a man highly respected in many parts of the world.

    Kamar you don’t get a knighthood for being a nasty piece of work you get it by making choices on the situation you have in front of you and making good of it.

    and virgin representativeness have already made their feelings clear that St. James Park should always be St. James Park.

    Richard branson in my opinion is a visionary and would be a pleasure to have as an owner. yes he is a businessman but he likes his toys like anyone else.

    He has just put £750 million back into the pocket of the tax payer, his banks wont pay big bonuses and they will state clearly what charges we will pay. IMO he is as transparent as a man can get.

    at least with SRB we wouldnt have any nasty surprises he would be frank and that my friend is what us geordies are. if you don’t like it Chuff off just don’t fill us full of Shit thinking we are going to fall for it.

    give him until 2013 and i think he might at least have a big share in NUFC.

  15. demba bra is nowt but a greedy tw@t & will end up just like the other rats that deserted our ship….CRAP!! & i hate everyone of them.

    it’ll be fun when his leg finally explodes….BANG!!

    mike done great business getting £5million for him.

    1st.

  16. Stephen,

    I have first hand inside experience of Branson and yes to the general public he comes across as Mr Nice Guy but let me assure you, he isn’t.

    He will probably be good PR for Newcastle but his methods will be as ruthless as Ashleys.

    As I said, beware of what you wish for.

  17. kamar

    are you still angry at losing your job at savy?

    i know SRB sold Virgin music to savy but there is no need to hold a grudge this long. its not SRB fault savy went tits up.

    HMV is still open im sure they could do with another member of staff.

  18. Stephen,

    Nope, was never an employee of Branson and therefore never made redundant.

    Happily retired now and living in the sun in a big villa with spectacular views of the Mediterranean.

  22. Wasn’t that zavvi, savy is a derivation of savvy, savoir-faire, knowing what to do, suss, isn’t it?

    ;)

  23. Agree with Kamar…..Branson comes across as everyone’s favourite capitalists, and I suspect he may be a good employer….unfortunately [or fortunately depending on your pov] we would be his customers if he took over ath the club. Past experience of Virgin Media and other of his business ventures would tell you that they are ruthless when it comes to price increases and other rip-off measures. Don’t expect any half price season tickets or cheap family enclosure tickets or tickets to a premiership game as a result of a pre season friendly being called off. Look forward to ticket prices around the level of an Arsenal or Spurs £1000 a season I believe is the going rate at these clubs!

  25. He got NR for 3\4 of it’s true value after we the taxpayers bailed it out. Virgin Money have already announced that redundancies could be the order of the day at some point in the future and they only took over the ‘good’ debt side of the Rock, the toxic debt is being left to rot along with its workers supported by the taxpayers. They’ve announced £60 per year current account charges even for those in credit, so you’ll be charged for the privilege of allowing them to have your money and investing it to make him even more profit

  26. well atleast we arent getting hit with £25 per time for a missed payment. i got charges two weeks ago for missing a payment. couldnt get to the bank on time ti stick some cash in.

    at least i know im going need £60 per year and not get stung for missing a bill.

    my fault i know for missing it but crimbo hours arnt the best and that timeof year isnt the easiest to get to a bank.

    the one thing ive learnt about Virgin they are transparent. and if i remember rightly you have two choices Charges or no charges. you have a choice of account. so you cant whinge about £60 per year if you sign up for that account and you cant winge for £25 per missed payment if you dont sign up for a £60 per year account.

    and is cheap season tickets the answer? is it me or has anyone else seen bad behaviour in the ground increase lateley?

  27. Kamar says: Happily retired now and living in the sun in a big villa with spectacular views of the Mediterranean.

    sounds great, I’ll pop over with a few mates to see you for a few months – can you pick us up at the airport?

  28. Ba wont leave, we will have him till the end of the season. Hopefully harry keeps his swollen face shut till then

  29. “Hopefully harry keeps his swollen face shut till then” hay have to – he’s due in court soon, naughty dodgey boy !

  30. i recon its a dead cert he will go down. as long as the jury isnt full of football fans its a sound bet.

    all this England talk will surely be softening who ever will be on the jury.

    so lets hope for some hard nosed snob, a few geordies, Alan pardews cousin and some of louise redknaps ex-band mates and we will be laughing.

    droopie and his mate single handedly ripped portsmouth to pieces so lets hope they get what they deserve. and lets hope people see them for what they are

  32. He won’t go down!

    Just like gerrard didn’t & doesn’t get carded for 2 footed lunges.
    As rudolph didn’t, got a knighthood.
    & all the other discrepancies in football & life.

  33. we dont have “the fifth” here. we have “it may harm your defence if you dont mention when questioned something which you later rely on it court”

    meaning if yee divent tell wor madge wont be owa chuffed.

    its about time the courts had the hard line against footballers. the lords had it good for years, then aitkin, and a few others went down, as well as mps so its only fair that footballers should have just as much justice back at them like the rest of us.

    personaly i would hang harry. hang him for treason.

  36. stephen,

    i’m well aware of the statute book mate, that’s why i put it in inverted commas.

    That ‘new anything you may rely on…crap, is a new & further erosion of our rights mate.

    ;)

  37. well to be honest im not in favor of those amendments the 1st freedom of speech has its limits. might have been fine 100 or so years ago but now. its worth the paper its written on.

    freedom of speech isn’t something we have in the UK maybe that is a good thing.

  38. Aye,

    freedom of speech is cool, but the freedom to not incriminate oneself is also very important.

  39. Er,
    i’ve just re read that, we DO have freedom of speech in the uk, at least we did last time i looked.

  40. avatar maze202 says:
    January 9, 2012 at 1:36 pm

    £5m for Ba? Why would MA ever accept a deal like that on any player?…

    why would ba except £40k/week but only £20k if he wasn’t playing?

    it’s probably a compromise because of the £ issue that suited both slim shady & ba at the time.

  41. to be honest clint i’m not a big fan of either.

    they do more harm than good.

    law like those protect the crook not the victim.

    although im not whiter than white, maybe a little grey, but i would never inflict misery on anyone. which the 1st and the 5th do.

    and in the UK there are no laws protecting freedom of speech only laws to prevent it and i think thats a good thing, to many malicious people out their only use their mouths for harm.

    social networks, twitter, facebook all do harm in the lies they often spread and its only the smaller guy who feels the pain. the giggs of the world have cash to push through injunctions but what does joe blogs have?

    ive got a moral, don’t do anything you wouldn’t want to do the time for, or never do anything worth more than a slap on the wrists.

    anything else and you don’t deserve to have rights like the 5th.

    thats why i only sell cheap viagra and not the harder stuff

  42. we dont mate.

    to many laws preventing it.

    there is a list of things we cant say. so if there is a list it cant be called freedom of speech if we aren’t free to say what we like.

  43. stephan,

    That’s why we have laws to stop people besmirching others mate. i.e. racism, slander, lible etc.

    The whole ‘it’s always the victims never the crook’ argument is media led pooh tbh.
    For a start crooks aren’t usually that bright. & no one is innocent, really.

    Three laws:
    Never stop anyone,
    never make anyone.
    Never do something you wouldn’t have done to yourself.

  45. what i mean clint.

    you try having a honest conversation about the Queen and royal family in front of a copper.

    you try to be a comedian telling a dirty joke.

    one way or the other freedom of speech we dont have.

    if the law wont get you, the press will. so its doesnt matter what way you look at it freedom of speech isnt something we have. at any levels

  46. and because there is consequences mean there is no complete freedom.

    for instance was Clarkson free to say “he would hang all strikers in front of their families”

    no

    he was made to apologize and risked losing his job.

    something with consequences isn’t free

  47. stephen,

    i understand completely mate, & basically agree with your cynicism. Believe me.
    But if you are inciting some kind of hatred, you get what you deserve. Don’t know about ‘dirty jokes’ though.

    Down with all royalty though!

    :)

  48. clarkson is a qunt though!
    He didn’t have to apologise, he did it to save his own ass.
    He’s a self interested bigot-come & get me ya’ bazza’s!

    :)

  49. Freedom is a dream, a utopia.
    Of course it doesn’t & never will truly exist.
    Nice idea though & we should take as much as we can without the powers that be coming down on us like a ton of shit.

    ;)

  50. Talking of racists,

    how dare liverpool even think of buying Ba, when their players & fans are turning out to be ‘suspect’, shall we say. FFS! Their manager even condones it.

    The nerve!

  51. Stephen,

    Have you seen the picture today of Branson in a Newcastle shirt with his arms around (or up the bums of) Williamson, Sammy and Santon?

    Didn’t take him long to self publicize himself.

    He will not be doing the same with the Geordies who are going to lose their jobs I bet!

  52. well all i can say to that is.

    if you support a racist then it will rub off on the fans.

    promoting racism will only end one way. the way id did with the oldham player.

    clubs should learn a big lesson. Giving Racism the Red card means RED not YELLOW where you can just tone it down.

    6 games is not enough in my eyes in those cases we should take a leaf out of rugby give a time not a number of games.

    and more to the point he should be made to work with people from ethnic minorities.

    i’ve heard there is a white scout group in benwell that could do with a hand

  53. We still have freedom of speech even if it isn’t exactly what it says on the tin. Thats what they call it so thats what it is. Just like people who are Homophobic arent scared of gays.

    As much as I hope Ba stays you can clearly see he is stuck between a rock and a hard place and the lad is just trying to please everyone.

    Imagine if you were playing for PSG and Newcastle came knocking with a great deal for you. I know i wouldn’t think twice about saying yes to that.

  54. Derek @ 53

    ‘…Imagine if you were playing for PSG and Newcastle came knocking with a great deal for you. I know i wouldn’t think twice about saying yes to that…’

    Not if you are from Paris and supported PSG as a lad?

    The situation is not too dissimilar to that of Shearer giving the thumbs down to Fergie and the most successful club in the league to join the club he supported as a boy. Oh, and the £15m of course.

  55. stephen,

    it’s 8 games, but it still ain’t enough.
    & £20k is a joke.
    Hammer them & STAMP IT OUT!

  58. worky,
    they must have had a good search about to see if they could find something, hey.
    Not a the ground though.

    It sucks though!

  60. JoeSoap says:

    January 9, 2012 at 12:21 pm

    “Past experience of Virgin Media and other of his business ventures would tell you that they are ruthless when it comes to price increases and other rip-off measures.”

    And decreasing the level of customer service, using the cheapest, crappiest hardware for set top boxes etc…

  61. Then they’ll have to bust anyone that abuses anyone at a game.

    Anyone that racially abuses a player at SJP would be sanctioned. They made it quite plain about away supporters too, in the wake of the Darlo thing.

  62. Does mido still roll around on a football pitch in england or anywhere for that matter?

  63. Derek L says:
    January 9, 2012 at 3:41 pm

    “Imagine if you were playing for PSG and Newcastle came knocking with a great deal for you. I know i wouldn’t think twice about saying yes to that.”

    Derek, You may be a little biased being a Newcastle united fan though ;-) PSG are one of the richest teams in the world since they were taken over by Qatari investors who are richer than Croesus. They are offering huge deals to top players.

  65. CLiNT FLiCK says:
    January 9, 2012 at 4:48 pm

    “Does mido still roll around on a football pitch in england or anywhere for that matter?”

    He eventually went back to his otiginal club (Zamalek) in Egypt Clint.

  66. I was trying to point out that bias fact. I meant if YOU were at PSG as a Newcastle fan you would want to play for the team you support.

    Take the black and white tinted glasses off for a second and see that he is in the reverse of this situation. A PSG fan playing for Newcastle…

  67. and Kamar, if you actually bothered to read what i had wrote you will see you have just repeated my point exactly. You newcastle fan want to play for newcastle. Ba PSG fan wants to play for PSG

  68. worky i don’t think the chants were actually islamaphobic.

    the reason why nothing ever became of the mido chanting was because you cant really put your finger on a rhyming chant.

    i doubt you would get toon fans singing mido mido is our hero.

    and people were told to alert people to suspicious activity among ethnic minority and how anyone could call mido a footballer beats me. he had to be up to something.

    you never quite know with these extremists.

  69. Derek L says:
    January 9, 2012 at 5:29 pm

    “I was trying to point out that bias fact.”

    Aye Derek, sorry. I do think that too much is made of players “supporting” clubs especially when they play it up in interviews. Of course, it’s the “great deal” part you mentioned which will make all the difference really.

    Weren’t Rooney and Owen Everton fans?

  71. worky,

    any idea where this plan of buying players like horse flesh came from?
    It’s obviously been forever, but where/why did it go that way?

  73. stephen,

    i keep having a look at that HBA goal at the weekend, it gets better every time.
    :)

  75. i know clint but have you seen the one with mick lowes cometary? theres a point where cabay is screaming for the ball.

    you have to be confident to look at a guy like cabay and say “f**k it ill score this myself” from the half way line.

  76. i know clint but have you seen the one with mick lowes cometary? theres a point where cabay is screaming for the ball.

    you have to be confident to look at a guy like cabay and say “f**k it ill score this myself” from the half way line.

  79. Stephen C says:

    January 9, 2012 at 5:41 pm

    “worky i don’t think the chants were actually islamaphobic.

    the reason why nothing ever became of the mido chanting was because you cant really put your finger on a rhyming chant.”

    Yes they were and yes you can Stephen. Many years ago I was reading some vile NF publication. It had a photo of a Gorilla and under it was the caption “APE”. Next to that they had a photo of a black man and under that they had the caption “R-APE”. You could certainly “put your finger” on that rhyme!

    “i doubt you would get toon fans singing mido mido is our hero.”

    No, but that’s no excuse for implying that he’s a bomber just because of his religious affiliation or country of origin. That’s Islamophobic or bigoted.

    “and people were told to alert people to suspicious activity among ethnic minority…

    you never quite know with these extremists.”

    which ethnic minority? What extremists Stephen? Racists?

  81. i was refering to the Mido Mido is a…… (gary glitter)

    and as for suspicious activity. mido being anywhere near a football pitch was suspicious enough.

  83. Hmmm! looks like every club with a billionaire owner and some without, will be putting in bids for “Wor Demba”.
    And who will get him, if i were Demba i’d head for the City Of Lights and PSG, going to be another Citeh by all accounts.
    Soh ! who to blame for the buy out clause, that would be our two footballing genius’s Mike and Derick, who wanted to get the cheapest deal they could.
    Never thinking he would be this successful, or for that matter, that his knee would still be working.
    I believe the best striker we have had in a while, was meant to be a stop gap, who if his knee blew up we could dump.

    Everyone should be assured he’s not the only one coveted at the moment, Cabaye and Tiote are being watched constantly and we will have to start re-evaluating the wage policies, that is, if we are interested in keeping them ?

    Which poses the question, with the present wage structure and lack of willingness to spend a lot on new faces, are we destined to see new sides (younger, cheaper and better) every summer, having sold off last years buys,
    for big money.

    Is that any way to run a football club ?
    To operate differently we will have to give our stars, what they would earn at successful clubs, No?
    So does anyone believe we can hang onto all our present Stars ?
    Or will Ashley change his ways ?

  84. i think chuck, two year cycle, once a player is in the spot light twos years and they are gone.

    spotlight + two years x (long contract) = Sale @ high price

  85. chuck,

    we’ve been there, done that, printed up the t-shirt & sold it on a market stall on a cold wet wednesday in Chester le street mate.

    Whatever goes wrong/right you can twist any way that suits an agenda. The trick is saying it BEFORE it happens.
    Other wise it’s chip wrapper!