Ba-ck to the future?

I wondered how long it would be before the Demba Ba back to Newcastle stories would appear - the Metro appear to be the first. It's unclear whether there's any truth to the claims, but let's forget about that and instead weigh up whether it would be a good move for both parties.

For Ba, you'd have to say it would be. At Chelsea, he may have the tempting carrot of Champions League football and a genuine shot at a title-winner's medal, but he seems to be unfavoured by Jose Mourinho, and jostling for a place with £50m Fernando Torres and Romelu Lukaku, the Belgian who devastated defences on loan at West Brom last season. And that's not to mention the fact that the Blues have such a glut of attacking midfielders that Mourinho actually dispensed with a recognised striker against Man Utd on Monday, Andre Schurrle nominally filling the role. By contrast, Ba would be practically guaranteed a starting berth on Tyneside.

More importantly, though, I think it would represent a sound signing on our part too. Ba knows the club and many of the players, he knows the area, he knows the fans - most of whom, I'd suggest, don't hold a grudge against him for choosing to leave when he did. It was often said that Ba and Papiss Cisse couldn't both play to their strengths when they were on the pitch at the same time, and it's true that one generally had to sacrifice himself for the benefit of the other and, by extension, the team. Nevertheless, at any point during the calendar year we had both players, one of them was banging in the goals on a regular basis. What we'd give for someone - anyone - to be doing that at the moment.