Chelsea FC Officially Announce Demba Ba Departure

Reports of Demba Ba’s departure were circling the internet yesterday and his new club Besiktas confirmed the move on their Twitter account. Today however, Chelsea made it 100% official by announcing the departure of the Senegalese striker on the official website. The fee for Demba Ba paid by Besiktas is believed to be around £4.7 million which is of course less than the supposed £8 million that the initial reports claimed were paid for his services.

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Ba was supposedly on his way out of Chelsea in the last January transfer window but two factors kept him at the club for the second half of the season. The first was Fernando Torres’s knee injury against Manchester United which would have left Chelsea dangerously thin at the striker position. The second was the fact that Arsenal was rumored to be the primary club interested in his services and the Blues would not sell him to a title rival in the middle of the season. That line of thinking explains why Juan Mata was sold to the floundering United but Ba was not let go.

An excerpt from Chelsea FC’s statement on Demba Ba:

"Demba Ba has today (Friday) departed Chelsea Football Club, signing for Turkish club Besiktas. The Senegalese striker leaves following a season-and-a-half spell with the Blues, having moved to Stamford Bridge from Newcastle United in January 2013.His last appearance in a Chelsea shirt came in the penultimate game of the season when he played the full 90 minutes in a 0-0 draw against Norwich City. The 29-year-old ends his time at the club having made 23 starts and 28 substitute appearances, scoring 14 goals. Everybody at Chelsea Football Club would like to thank Demba for his service and wish him all the best for the future."

It is a good thing that Chelsea did not sell the striker in the January window because without him, we would not have had two of the most memorable moments of the season. The first being his goal against PSG and the second his goal against Liverpool at Anfield after Steven Gerrard’s slip. Thank you for the memories and best of luck Demba Ba!

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