Besiktas’ Possible Legend: Demba Ba

ANKARA

Demba Ba, the Turkish giants Besiktas’ latest transfer from English Premier League club Chelsea, scored 98 goals in the last eight seasons, becoming a revered figure in Senegal’s football history.

Turkish football fans can expect to see a superb striker in action, and one with significant international experience.

Turkish Spor Toto Super League side Besiktas signed the Senegalese forward from Chelsea on July 16 for a €6 million transfer fee. He was given the number 9 shirt and immediately became a favorite of Turkish fans. Ba is a religious person and fasts during Ramadan, Islam's holiest month.

Right after his arrival, he wrote about Besiktas’ new stadium, which is under construction.

“Vodafone Arena is really nice. Come here!” he wrote in Turkish on his official Twitter account. Lately, Ba has also gained the appreciation of Turkish fans with his tweets about the Israeli assault on Gaza. In that regard, the former Chelsea forward tweeted a verse of the Koran which says “My Lord! Help me against the mischievous people.”

Ba was born in Paris in 1985, the sixth of seven children, He joined a youth football club when he was 7 years old and has been playing ever since.

Between 1999 and 2004, he played for several French clubs such as Port Autonome, Frileuse and Montrouge. The Senegalese forward made his first-team debut in 2005 with Rouen, a French 4th League team.

He scored 22 goals for Rouen in the 2005-2006 season and caught the attention of Mouscron, a Belgian Pro League side, and transferred there. Numerous other clubs wanted him but Mouscron won Ba’s signature.

But fractures in his fibula and tibia caused him to have an average season in Belgium. He could score only eight goals following eight months of rehabilitation. Still, he was chosen for the first time for the Senegal National Football Team.

After an unlucky period in Belgium, Ba was purchased by the 2nd league Bundesliga team 1899 Hoffenheim for €3 million. He scored 12 goals for the German team and became a huge part of Hoffenheim’s promotion to the Bundesliga. He stayed in Germany for three years, scored 40 goals in 103 appearances and went to the English Premier League in the 2010-11 season.

In his first year in the United Kingdom, he played for West Ham United and scored seven goals in 13 games. Later he signed a three-year deal with Newcastle United on free transfer. Ba scored his first goals for the club in September 2011 with a hat-trick against the Blackburn Rovers when Newcastle won the game with 3-1. His second hat-trick came in a Stoke City match that moved Newcastle to third in the league.

Because of this performance Ba was named “Premier League Player of the Month” for December 2011.

While he was moving his team to the leadership of the league, he went to an international tournament, the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations. At the tournament, Ba’s teammate from Senegal, Papiss Cisse, also signed for Newcastle United and both returned to Newcastle earlier than expected after Senegal finished the group at the bottom. By that time, Newcastle had been eliminated from the FA Cup without Ba.

Despite this elimination, the Senegalese international finished the season as Newcastle's leading scorer, with 16 goals, and finished his Newcastle career with 29 goals in 58 games.

Then Ba joined Chelsea for €8.5 million on Jan. 4, 2013 with a three and a half year contract and became the first Senegalese player to join the club. He scored two goals in his first appearance, against Southampton, in the third round of the FA Cup. Ba scored six goals during the first half of the season. In total he played 29 games and scored eight goals with the management of Portuguese head coach Jose Mourinho.

For 2013-2014 season he received offers from his former clubs Newcastle United and West Ham United, also from London giants Arsenal. He was going to join to Arsenal for a season on loan but because of Chelsea’s intervention he couldn’t move there.

The Chelsea forward scored a crucial goal in the 87th minute in 2013-2014 UEFA Champions League quarter final second-leg against French club Paris Saint-Germain and sent his team through to the semifinals on the April 8, 2013. Ba has found the net 14 times in total since his transfer in January, 2013, and fell behind the other strikers Cameroonian Samuel Eto’o and Spanish Fernando Torres. He spent most of the season on the bench. After the transfer of Spanish striker Diego Costa in this summer, Chelsea allowed Ba to search a new club for the next season.

Besiktas won Turkish league for 13 times since it was established in 1903. 

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