The Premier League Owl
No, no, no, no…
We can all make a case for Demba Ba being a good signing for almost any club in the Premier League, but he’s an option QPR really should turn their back on.
The Mirror is reporting this morning that Harry Redknapp has targeted the Senegalese forward, and that ‘Tony Fernandes is determined to deliver’ him. Furthermore, the paper believes that QPR will offer £90,000/week and a relegation release clause in their attempt to get Ba down to West London.
Alarm bells, financial madness klaxon…lots of different warning sounds are sounding.
Clearly this is a virtuous player, but employing mercenaries to prevent relegation is not usually a road which leads to anywhere good. Of course, The Mirror may well have concocted this story over their Christmas lunch – it’s written by Darren Lewis after all – but even so, it’s worth stressing quite how reckless such a move would be.
Having a relegation release clause prevents a club from having to pay Premier League wages if they suffer demotion, but this is still a huge amount of money to be throwing at a player of Ba’s ability. He scores goals, yes, but QPR need more than that if they are to survive – and Tony Fernandes needs to be spreading his resources across the whole side in January if they are to stay in the division. It’s time for a methodical transfer policy, not just more cash-slinging.
Just look at the precedent here: Demba Ba didn’t save West Ham, did he? This side needs solidifying, and that means working from back to front, and putting eleven players on the pitch who make Rangers harder to beat and who, collectively, are determined to keep them up – Ba, on that kind of contract, would be playing entirely for himself.
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