Chelsea trigger Ba's £7.5m release clause as Torres accepts bench role and Liverpool confirm Sturridge's signing
Chelsea have been given permission to approach Newcastle United striker Demba Ba after making an offer that triggered a release clause in his contract, Newcastle confirmed on Wednesday.
Chelsea can now open talks with the 27-year-old Senegal striker after meeting the £7.5m ($11.4 million, 8.6 million euros) asking price stipulated in his contract.
Ba, who joined Newcastle in 2011, was subsequently withdrawn from manager Alan Pardew’s squad for the Premier League fixture at home to Everton on Wednesday evening.
“Newcastle United can confirm that Chelsea Football Club has made an official offer for Demba Ba which has triggered the release clause in the player’s contract,” Newcastle said in a statement.
“The club has given the player permission to speak to Chelsea FC and therefore he will not be included in the squad for tonight’s (Wednesday’s) game against Everton.”
News of Ba’s imminent signing comes on the same day interim Chelsea boss Rafael Benitez admitted he is keen to bring in a new striker to ease the burden on Fernando Torres.
The club’s record signing has started every league game for the Blues this campaign, and despite showing signs of recovering his best form since Benitez took charge, there are some who still believe he would benefit from competition.
Indeed, Benitez himself admitted as much in an interview last week and he now insists Torres understands what he will not be a guaranteed starter all of the time.
“We are trying to manage the team so when I can change Fernando I will do it,” said Benitez. “We will try to manage him and hopefully we can do things properly. He wants the team winning games and he understands that is the way so he will accept this.”
Liverpool have also confirmed the signing for our 23-year old striker Daniel Sturrige for a reported £12m. A statement on their website said,
The 23-year-old becomes our first signing of the January transfer window after penning a long-term contract at Melwood today.
Afterwards he told Liverpoolfc.com of his joy at sealing the deal.
“I am humbled and happy to be here,” said Sturridge.
“Brendan Rodgers said he sees me here for a long time – and I also see myself here for a long time. I’ve not signed here to play for a couple of years and then move on.
“I’ve signed to be here for as long as possible. It’s a humongous club – for me, one of the biggest in the world – and to have the fans and world-class players we have here is amazing.”
Sturridge began his professional career at Manchester City, where he finished top-scorer as City lifted the FA Youth Cup in 2008.
In 2009 he signed for Chelsea where he established himself as one of the best young forwards in the country, firing 24 times during his stay at Stamford Bridge.
His form at Chelsea led to full international recognition at the age of just 22.
Having scored 21 goals in 34 appearances for England at youth level, Fabio Capello handed him a senior bow in a friendly against Sweden in November 2011.
He has collected three more caps since and last summer scored twice for Great Britain at the Olympic Games.
If Ba could sign with chelsea,chelsea must change formation it means 4,4,2 in order Demba Ba na tores to play together as final strikers but far from Ba chelsea need another two strikers to complite four striker as manchester united did if they want to take EPL this season
chelsea arent going for the title anymore. we kind of cant. what we can focus on is the fa cup, capital 1 cup and europa league. in summer we get falcao for a ridiculous amount. and also dont rule out cavani moving to chelsea. we can keep our lineup and put torres on the bench or alternate the strikers depending on the game.
We need a midfielder now after signing Ba. Then we wrap up with a huge sum of money on falcao in the summer. Martin, Norway.
When will this deal be confirmed officially?
Reblogged this on ski'demzy.
we cannot have formation 4-4-2. it’s quite impossible since we have only 2 strikers. if we want, 1/2 strikers could be enough.
I agree Azizi. Even if Chelsea end up having four strikers like the Manchester clubs,we’ll have to sell quite a few of the attacking midfielders. I definitely don’t want to see Hazard,Mata,Oscar,Moses,Piazon or Marin leaving for another few seasons. Football is evolving and with that,it’s getting faster. A packed midfield with only one striker is the way to go in this era unless you can do a Juventus with three defenders at the back and a packed midfield with two swapping lay off strikers then you can maybe succeed but I bet it won’t work in the EPL. The 4-4-2 is basically just for fast wing play (lots of crosses) in attack and when defending,those wingers fall back to help the full backs.
My view, perhaps Demba Ba can create a very good competition for Torres because Torres yet still cannot scores againts the minnows regularly or scores againts Big6 (only Arsenal he got his goal). The only thing I concern is Demba Ba is an injury-phrone player, got bad knee in previous season. If he stays fit, he is a bargain to me, for Chelsea.
I choose formation (all players fit) with Ba up front:-
——————————————————Cech—————————————————–
Ivanovic———————-Cahill———————————-(C)JT————————–ACole
—————————Luiz——————————————–Lampard————————–
Moses———————————————-Mata———————————————Hazard
————————————————–Demba Ba—————————————————
With the help of ba i think cfc at come out runner up and let torres watch from the bench but sometime he should start,and formation should be 4-5-1 rotating
I agree with Zane