Ex-Chelsea man hoping for Newcastle United link-up following Abdoullah Ba Sunderland loan deal

Former Newcastle United and Chelsea striker Demba Ba has admitted that he is looking to “forge” transfer links in England for new club USL Dunkerque having recently completed a loan deal for Sunderland attacker Abdoullah Ba.

The 21-year-old completed a deadline switch to the Ligue 2 outfit last month having fallen out of favour on Wearside under Regis Le Bris this season. His move to France has allowed him to link up with Ba, who became a minority owner of Dunkerque around two years ago, and who has since taken over as head of football operations - firing a popular manager and changing the club’s philosophy to become more focused on youth development.

To his credit, Ba’s overhaul has been predominantly successful too, with the club very much in the hunt for promotion over the coming months. And in an interview with The i Paper, the 39-year-old has addressed the approach that has carried Dunkerque this far, and that convinced him to sign his Sunderland namesake in January.

What has Demba Ba said about signing Abdoullah Ba?

He said: “I’m very happy with how it is going. Our success this season is simple. It’s having a plan – a proper plan – and putting the right people in place to deliver it. I studied football a lot. I looked at management, trends of football and where the game is going and then had the conviction to put all of that in place,” he says.

“I always said you don’t need the biggest budget to create a great team in football. It’s all about having the idea, the vision and putting it together with the right people. For me I focused on that. Capital will always take you further, but you can have the biggest budget and no idea what you’re doing. You’re still going to be able to do something because if you go into the market with £10 million as opposed to £1 million you might get a better player. At the end of the day it all starts by the vision, planning and getting the right people on board. This is what’s happened with Dunkerque, this is what I think I do well.”

Referring to Ba’s arrival from the Stadium of Light, he added: “I’ve certainly tried to forge those links in England. It’s not as easy as I would have thought because the way I see football requires a lot of cognitive qualities and a lot of technical qualities and abilities.

“Most of the time when you find those players they’re with big teams or their value is so high and those teams are struggling, right now, to loan a player to Dunkerque. Although we’re doing good in the second division it’s not like we’re FC Metz, Bordeaux or Lorient where they used to be first division, they are big names and have big money.

“But I’m trying. Last season we did Billy Koumetio on loan from Liverpool, now we’ve done [Abdoullah] Ba from Sunderland. We’re trying to open doors and make those connections but as of now, all we’ve managed to do is to loan those players, we’ve not been able to sign those players yet. Let’s see what happens.”

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What has Demba Ba said about Newcastle United?

And Ba has also suggested that he would like to extend his network of transfer contacts in the North East to include his former employers on Tyneside. He continued: “For Newcastle, I have plans.

“It’s a club that counts for me, it counted in my career and in the next few weeks and months I’m going to make my way up north and see what we can do together. I will pay Newcastle a visit, it’s on my list absolutely.”

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