Club chief sees 'virtually no chance' of permanent deal for 'unbelievable' Sunderland loanee

USL Dunkerque chief Demba Ba has admitted that there is “virtually no chance” of his side signing Sunderland loanee Abdoullah Ba on a permanent basis at the end of the season.

The 21-year-old left the Stadium of Light to link up with the Ligue 2 outfit on deadline day of the January transfer window after struggling to impress Black Cats head coach Regis Le Bris over the course of the first half of the campaign.

Prior to his exit, Ba had failed to register a single minute of Championship football under his compatriot, with his only senior appearance of the season coming in a Carabao Cup defeat at the hands of Preston North End back in August. It was within this context that Dunkerque, who are partially owned by former Newcastle United striker Ba, made their move for the player in the latter stages of the winter window.

Speaking about his admiration for his namesake during an interview with The i Paper, the 39-year-old said: “He’s a player that I’ve been following for a long time. He was playing for Le Havre before and I grew [up] there so I’ve always followed that club a little bit and his name is Ba. When I saw him at 17 or 18 I really liked the profile of the player that he was.

“He did well for Le Havre, went to England and then I saw he wasn’t playing too much this season. But I know the player, it’s just a little click that needs to happen in his mind for him to be able to perform because once again I know the quality of the player.

“When you see his attributes, it’s unbelievable. The agility he has with the ball, his mentality and even the speed and everything. If you train hard, with all these attributes you have a great career unless something’s not right I would say mentally, emotionally or something like this. I decided to bring him on board because he’s better than the level of French second division. We’re going to work on the mental aspect, the emotional aspect to get him back on track.”

But while Ba is thoroughly enamoured with the Sunderland loanee, he has also admitted that there is “virtually no chance” of making his stay in northern France permanent. It is understood that the Black Cats are paying a hefty chunk of Ba’s wages with the primary aim being to help him rediscover his best form, and for him to return to Wearside as a more valuable asset.

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Ba continued: “We just want to put him back on track for him to find his rhythm back, his confidence and to start enjoying it a bit because after what happened to him in the last couple of months he got into a mood where he just wants to enjoy football. We’ll try and bring that back to him and then hopefully he can go back to Sunderland and either compete or be sold to move on with the rest of his career.”

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