No, not Demba Ba but Porto’s defender Abdoulaye Ba is a target for both Aston Villa and Southampton. Porto would be willing to let the 22-year old defender leave on loan but are requesting a loan fee of £400,000. However, this deal won’t happen if Porto’s star defender Mangala leaves the club with Chelsea the favourite for his signature.
Ba is a highly-rated centre-back, he has played for Senegal in the Olympics and would add strength to any defence. But is there any chance that this could actually happen? I’m at 50/50 right now, we have already signed Okore meaning we’ve got 4 defenders plus Herd the versatile midfielder can fit in. But, if it’s just a loan signing it would strengthen our defence for a season and insure that we don’t have to rely on unexperienced Baker and Okore.
Aston Villa haven’t been linked with anyone over the past few weeks, so finally seeing a link does make me a little more optimistic that perhaps Lambert isn’t done with his transfer business.
We paid 9mil for Young and he turned out out be a gem (for us anyway) so 8mil for Ince who in comparison looks miles better than young did at Watford, I’d be all for it but as Adam says, we could find cheaper and better abroad.
I agree, although there is an argument for buying young English talent. The mark ups on English players, especially talented ones, is arguably the safest investment you can make in the EPL. The best example that comes to mind would be Downing. The club overspent to sign him, injured nonetheless, and we still came out ahead with a massive profit.
I do love that people are now getting the “go abroad”, although Ince is quality. Someone like Firmino, Cabella, Popov, Eysseric, Salah, Lestienne would probably cost the same amount, maybe other than Firmino who would cost a bit more but is such an amazing player.