Friday, January 4, 2013

Friday EPL Roundup: Chelsea, Newcastle, and West Ham Make Moves

Striker Demba Ba has officially joined Chelsea (Photo: Chelsea FC)

The European, particularly English, transfer window is now in full swing as clubs seek to strengthen their sides for the second half of the season.  The big news is flying in England today as Newcastle striker Demba Ba has officially signed with Chelsea FC.  The Blues offered Newscatle enough in a transfer fee to trigger Ba's automatic release clause.  The fee was rumored to be 7 million pounds.  Ba commented that he is excited to be at Chelsea because "when the team that won the Champions League wants you, it's a fairly easy decision to make."  Ba will replace the recently departed Daniel Sturridge.  Hopefully for the Blues, his knee holds out.  As a side note, since Senegal will not be playing in the African Cup of Nations, Chelsea will retain his services for the next few weeks.  He'll be eligible to play for the Blues during their FA Cup tie this weekend.

Newcastle hurriedly put the transfer fee to good use though.  They have announced the signing of French international fullback Mathieu Debuchy from Lille for a fee rumored to be about 5 million pounds. Debuchy has 12 caps for the French senior side.  Alan Pardew wanted this deal done last summer, but the two sides could not come to agreement.  Debuchy will not be in the squad for Newcastle's FA Cup match this weekend, and the Frenchman is targeting the next EPL match against Norwich for his debut.

West Ham United bolstered their squad today as well with two signings.  First off they signed Joe Cole on a free transfer from Liverpool.  The former Chelsea standout was a major flop at Anfield.  He took a red card in his first EPL match there, and missed a penalty in his next match, a Europa League tie.  He never recovered.  Last season he was loaned to French club Lille, where he scored 9 goals in 42 matches. He did score a goal for Liverpool against West Ham at Upton Park earlier this season , but earned the fans admiration by not celebrating. The Hammers also signed Arsenal striker Marouane Chamakh on a loan for the rest of the season.  Chamakh has not started an EPL match for Arsenal in over a year, and has not made a league appearance yet this season.  However, the paperwork did not come through in time, so he will not be available for West Ham this weekend.

In other news, earlier this week West Ham announced that Yossi Benayoun has left the club and returned to Chelsea, ending his loan spell.

No comments:

Post a Comment