When Chelsea purchased Demba Ba from Newcastle for an undisclosed fee believed to be in the region of £7million back in January, it was a buy that was necessary, yet it had panic written all over it.
Entering the 2012/2013 season, Chelsea had parted
ways with club icon Didier Drogba and the capable, but frustratingly
inconsistent, Salomon Kalou. They lost veteran striker Nicolas Anelka
to Shanghai Shenhua and shipped the promising Romelu Lukaku out on loan
to West Bromwich Albion.
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This left Chelsea's strike force paper thin,
with Fernando Torres the only recognised striker in the team and
only winger-cum-forward Daniel Sturridge offering support in the
Blues' first team.
Roberto Di Matteo and the coaching staff had a big
decision to make as they were torn between entrusting club record
signing Fernando Torres with delivering the goals necessary to fire the
club to trophies, or breaking the bank once again to land a world class
striker.
Ultimately, the decision to go through with the
former proved rather costly, to the extent Chelsea's title challenge was
virtually over by Christmas.
The general, hopeful feeling, was that with Didier
Drogba vacating the centre forward position, Torres could finally repay
the club with the sort of form that once gave the Spaniard legitimate
claims to be recognised as the world's most lethal striker.
Torres would know that he would start week in week
out and would be shown the faith to lead the line in the biggest games.
This show of faith was only fleetingly rewarded as Torres blew hot and
cold and was largely ineffective and uninspiring for the crucial first
half of the season as Di Matteo went on to lose his job and Chelsea's
season went into freefall.
The arrival of Rafa Benitez in November was met
with vehement disapproval from the Stamford Bridge faithful where home
games brought about a toxic atmosphere that exacerbated the team’s poor
performances.
The winter transfer window couldn't come quickly
enough as reinforcements were in desperate need as Chelsea were forced
to reassess their season objectives as their season crumbled before
their eyes with another failed title challenge, to go with the
ignominy of a group stage exit in the Champions League.
Long time targets Radamel Falcao and Edinson
Cavani were courted, but any plans to bring them to West London were
held until the summer which led to the arrival of Demba Ba. Another
striker was an absolute necessity to add extra firepower to a front line
that had been plagued by profligacy.
Demba Ba was a viable and solid acquisition, but
it was curious in nature given that it was not the forecasted big name
signing.
In Chelsea's strong finish to the season, which
yielded a top three finish in the league, their highest finish in two
years and a Europa League triumph, Demba Ba was decisive in key games
such as against Manchester United in the FA Cup where he scored a
spectacular winner in the quarter finals.
However, the Senegalese powerhouse was
disappointing on the whole in terms of his goal return, but must be
lauded for the impact he made to the squad in terms of depth,
performance and variation.
His future at Stamford Bridge came under question
as Jose Mourinho's second coming got into full swing, but it seems he
will be fighting it out with a somewhat improved Fernando Torres and
Romelu Lukaku, who is returning from a successful loan spell in which he
bagged 17 league goals.
It is still unclear what system and style Mourinho
will be implementing however - pre season fixtures have shown that
Romelu Lukaku and a 4-2-3-1 system will be preferred.
Whilst incredibly talented and maturing as a
player with every game, Lukaku is still somewhat a rough diamond and at
20 years of age, Mourinho will be asking a lot of the Belgian star if he
is to take centre stage during the upcoming season.
As the former Anderlecht prodigy grows and
develops into the fully fledged world class striker that many predict he
will become, Demba Ba remains Chelsea's most reliable and trusted
option upfront, even if Fernando Torres' reputation and Romelu
Lukaku's burgeoning talent suggests otherwise.
Demba Ba provides Mourinho the option to play both
ways as a striker in that Ba's physique and strength allows him to play
comfortably with his back to goal as a classic target man or as a
forward playing off the shoulder of the last defender who is constantly
looking to get in behind defences thanks to his impressive athletic
attributes.
The former Newcastle man is in the prime of his
career at 28 years of age, and given how impressively Ba exhibited a
rare blend of consistent, clinical finishing and a penchant for the
spectacular at St James' Park, who is to say he cannot repeat or even
elevate his game with classier players around him in the blue of
Chelsea?
If Mourinho shows Ba faith by playing him in a
healthy percentage of games in a centre forward position that will no
doubt be in dispute and rotated during the initial stages of the season,
he is more than capable of repaying Mourinho with goals.
With a full pre season under his belt with
Chelsea and healthy competition, a fit Demba Ba can be the main figure
instead of becoming the forgotten man who was bought on a whim.
With so many similar attributes to former talisman
Didier Drogba, Demba Ba could prove to be the perfect man who
successfully links together the Drogba era with the emerging Romelu
Lukaku era.
In the Premier League Mourinho will no doubt
be after a strong physical forward who can play upfront on his own and,
therefore a Demba Ba at his prime should not be wasted when the best of
him is ready to explode for Chelsea.
It would seem remarkably foolish if Demba Ba ended
up being under-utilised where a man at the peak of his powers has his
talents going to waste.
There are several teams such as Arsenal,
Liverpool, Inter Milan and Roma who could do with a quality target man
such as Ba, so at the price Chelsea have got him and the potential he
possesses, Ba is Mouinho's hidden gem that has not cost the club a
fortune.
His prominence in the first team would carry on a
proud tradition of powerful and domineering strikers where Chelsea's
reputation as a powerful unit is restored under Mourinho as the club has
yearned for a more flamboyant and passing style in recent times.
Some will say that Torres should be given another
chance to justify his enormous price tag. After all in two and a half
years at the club he will have played under a staggering five
different managers when the new season kicks off, so therefore he
warrants another opportunity under the tutelage of Jose Mourinho.
Some will say that Lukaku is ready to fulfil
what almost seems like his destiny, in succeeding childhood hero Didier
Drogba at the club he supported during his youth. His impressive loan
spell at West Brom last season coupled with his excellent pre season
form, have many believing the Belgian prodigy is the man to be entrusted
with firing the club to trophies next season.
Demba Ba may not have forged a name as famed as
Fernando Torres, nor has he been earmarked since his teens as the
game's next big thing, but what he is at present is a fit and healthy
striker at his physical, mental and professional peak.
This means if his ever going to achieve any career
defining feats such as winning the golden boot, it is now or never.
Therefore Mourinho must give him his fair share of chances. Nobody is
asking Mourinho to play Ba every week.
As all three striking candidates jostle for a
starting place, all that is being asked is that Ba be given a fair
opportunity to stake his claims as too often reputations and hype
overshadow and blind people.
It would be a tragedy if Ba withered away on the
bench when he could be making a significant impact at so many clubs,
including Chelsea
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