Beşiktaş signs Chelsea’s Ba

ISTANBUL

Demba Ba was signed with a fee of six million euros, the club said. DHA Photo

Beşiktaş was set to sign Chelsea striker Demba Ba after the Senegalese player arrived in Istanbul to pass his medical test July 16.

The 29-year-old striker hailed the supporters with Turkish tweets after arriving in Istanbul.
“Ben geldim!” he wrote in a tweet, meaning “I arrived!”

“Vodafone Arena çok güzel, gel!” (“Vodafone Arena is very beautiful, come!”) he wrote in a second tweet, in which added a photo of himself with a Beşiktaş jersey standing in front of a photograph of the club’s new stadium, which is currently under construction, urging fans to buy season tickets.

A group of fans welcomed the Senegalese player at the airport and Demba Ba said he was impressed with the reception he got.

“I can’t wait to start playing,” he said. “The reception was unbelievable.”

Demba Ba’s arrival came only an hour after a brief statement from the club, which read “Beşiktaş has begun talks with Chelsea for the transfer of Demba Ba,” without giving further details.

Previous reports suggested the Black Eagles would be acquiring Ba on loan but club board member Mete Vardar said the club has signed the player with a fee of six million euros, instead of 10 million pounds tagged by Chelsea.

After his spells at Hoffenheim and West Ham, Demba Ba made a name with his performances at Newcastle United, where he has scored 29 goals in 54 games. In 2013, he was purchased as a mid-season signing by Chelsea, where he scored seven goals in 33 appearances, mostly coming out of the bench.