Demba Ba makes 8th move since Newcastle United – A quite bizarre unveiling as he joins an even more bizarre club
Demba Ba was excellent for Newcastle United on the pitch but in pretty much his entire time on Tyneside, he was always said to be on the verge of leaving.
Having put a relegation clause into his contract when joining West Ham mid-season in January 2011, he hit the jackpot when they were relegated.
The clause meant he left for nothing and no doubt massively ramped up the signing on fee and wages when he joined Newcastle in June 2011.
Once again in a strong position, he then insisted on a £7.5m release clause, so Newcastle were powerless when Chelsea offered even more money 18 months later in January 2013.
Only 18 months later, Demba Ba was off yet again and has never stopped moving.
The striker racking up both air miles and cash.
Today (22 January 2019) he has found yet another new club, moving to Istanbul Basaksehir on loan from Shenhua.
His new club are top of the Turkish league but they are quite bizarre in many ways.
This is how they first gave a glimpse of their new signing…
This image was tweeted by Istanbul before they announced the signing of Demba Ba earlier. Right… pic.twitter.com/aVbMdce418
— Sam Inkersole (@Sam_InkersoleTM) January 22, 2019
That isn’t the only bizarre thing about the club though, as Demba Ba becomes the 16th player in the Istanbul squad who is the wrong age of 30.
Just look at these players and imagine the wages they are paying some of them.
The daddy of them all in terms of age is former Newcastle midfielder Emre, he is 38 and has featured in 10 leagues games already this season:
Emre (38)
Arda Turan (31)
Robinho (34)
Gael Clichy (33)
Emmanuel Adebayor (34)
Demba Ba (33)
Marcio Mossaro (35)
Volkan Babacan (30)
Alexandru Epureanu (32)
Alparslan Erdem (30)
Serdar Tasci (31)
Ugur Ucar (31)
Eljero Elia (31)
Mahmut Tekdemir (31)
Gokhan Inler (34)
Stefano Napoleoni (32)
Best of all, look at this very strange video the Turkish club posted to properly announce Demba Ba had arrived:
Demba Ba’s announcement video as he signs for Istanbul Basaksehir is a genuine work of art… pic.twitter.com/1yz3htDkMe
— 888sport (@888sport) January 22, 2019
Demba Ba moves (so far…) after joining Newcastle:
Newcastle United to Chelsea (£7.5m) 3 January 2013
Chelsea to Besiktas (£5m) 15 July 2014
Besiktas to Shenhua (£12m) 26 June 2015
Shenhua to Besitas (Loan) 30 January 2017
Besiktas to Shenhua (Return after loan) 31 May 2017
Shenhua to Goztepe (Free) 30 January 2018
Goztepe to Shenhua (Free) 17 June 2018
Shenhua to Istanbul Basaksehir (Loan) 22 January 2019
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