Wenger on alert as Demba Ba saga could be drawing to an end
Tuesday, December 11, 2012 at 10:50 AM | by Peter Stickney 
Newcastle United have finally made the decision to sell their Senagalese striker Demba Ba says the Mirror, putting Arsenal on alert. It appears that Newcastle have finally given in and decided to get some cash for Ba whilst they still can.
Contract negotiations are ongoing with the striker who has begun to re-find the form of last season. Ba has scored ten goals in seventeen goals this season and is Newcastle's top-scorer. The main sticking point appears to be Ba's wage demands and a buyout clause that Newcastle are trying to negotiate out of his contract. The striker has been holding out for a pay rise but the figure he is asking for is past that which Mike Ashley will sanction. Ba is apparently asking for £80,000 a week. Only an additional £10,000 on what he earns already but that is an extra half a million pounds a year. Ashley would have to sell a huge amount of shell suits to cover that.
It is thought that Arsenal and Liverpool are interested in the striker and with the buyout clause within his contract making him available for only £7.5 million you can see why. It is believed that Demba Ba will be owed roughly a third of that amount should he move. Next time I re-negotiate anything I'm getting in touch with his agent.
Peter Stickney