The Demba Ba Conundrum – Should we just take the money?

It has for a long time now been  public knowledge that Demba Ba has a £7.5 million release clause in his contract.

There are also rumours circulating as to his levels of happiness at the club. Although he made a laudable effort when being forced to play left wing last season, his form suffered and rumours of his discontentment over this matter grew, and it is worth noting that Alan Pardew has felt the need to start him up front this season, even if the formation switch has led to the detriment of the club’s league form and Papiss Cisse’s goalscoring form.

The latter clearly shone as the lone striker in a 4-3-3 last year, but has struggled to make the same impact this season, in which he has scored just two league goals in a 4-4-2 which has aided Demba Ba but, sadly, more or less nobody else.

Although injuries have certainly played their part, ultimately the team has looked less dominant this season when playing with the formation that has been imposed to accommodate Ba.

This combined with a rumoured increase in wage demands would mean that even though £7.5 million sounds like a criminally low price for such a talented player, in the long run taking a hit on losing him and returning to the style of play which was so successful last season may be more beneficial for the club.

Such a change would allow Newcastle to return to the style of football and tactics they used in performing so well in 2011-12, would allow them to make a £7.5 million pound profit on a player who seems to feel his needs come before those of the team and would allow Newcastle to keep the new wage structure they are trying to impose in order to keep the club more financially sustainable.

It would, in short, be a painful but almost certainly worthwhile transfer and certainly much less damaging to the club than losing one of Coloccinni, Ben Arfa or Cabaye.

Why do you think?