Ba Hails Easy Chelsea Move

Chelsea have confirmed the signing of Senegal striker Demba Ba from Newcastle United on a three-and-a-half-year deal for an undisclosed fee.

Ba has netted 36 Premier League goals in 61 starts across spells at West Ham United and Newcastle prior to penning a deal with the European champions.

And the 27 year old, who will wear the No.29 shirt, is delighted to have his future sorted and admits the offer from Chelsea was too good to turn down.

"It feels good to be here, I'm very happy and very proud," Ba said.

"It was important for me, and for Newcastle, to get my future sorted and now we can move on. Now they have the whole month to buy someone and for me as well, the sooner the better. Now I am here I just need to get settled in.

"When the club who won the Champions League wants you, the decision is very easy. This club is massive and that's something that helped the decision a lot. It was not a hard one."

After Ba's release clause was triggered by Chelsea earlier this week, Ba put pen to paper on a contract which will keep him in west London until the summer of 2016 and becomes interim first team manager Rafa Benitez's first signing at Stamford Bridge.

With a deal having been completed prior to the 12pm deadline on Friday, Ba could makes his Blues debut in the FA Cup third round tie at Southampton on Saturday, while he will also be eligible for the two-legged League Cup semi-final against Swansea City starting on Wednesday.

Having scored 13 league goals this season, Ba sits behind only Manchester United's Robin van Persie and Liverpool's Luis Suarez in the race for the golden boot.

Since his January 2011 move from Liverpool, Fernando Torres has failed tor recapture his very best form, and despite netting 14 goals already this season, Benitez admitted following the mid-week defeat to Queens Park Rangers that the Spaniard is in need of a rest.

After applying his trade at FC Rouen, Belgian side Excelsior Mouscron and German club Hoffenheim, Ba earned a move to the Premier League in the January of 2011, assisting in vain in West Ham's attempts to survive relegation.

His seven goals in 10 starts caught the attention of Newcastle, who signed Ba the following summer where he found the target 16 times in his first season as Alan Pardew's side qualified for the Europa League.

The goals haven't let up in the first half of the current campaign either, with two coming most recently in the 7-3 defeat to Arsenal.

However, Ba's inability to link-up effectively with international colleague Papiss Demba Cisse has contributed to Newcastle's problems this season, a term which has seen them lose nine of their last 11 in the league, a run of form which leaves them 15<sup>th in the Premier League.

Accompanied by a reported £7m release clause, Ba's form meant it was simply a matter of time before he was being targeted by the division's elite, with a move to the Bridge likely to be the precursor to a regular challenge for domestic and European honours.