‘I have plans’ - Demba Ba plots Newcastle United transfer alliance with Ligue 2 club

After retiring as a player in 2021, the former Toon striker has begun a career at boardroom level. Ba is the sporting director and minority owner at the Dunkirk-based club and signed Sunderland youngster, namesake Abdoullah Ba, on loan last month.

He also owns Senegalese club Amitie FC and is chairman at Albion San Diego. Ba now hopes to use his English connections - having played for West Ham United, Newcastle and Chelsea - to help all three clubs grow in the coming years.

The 39-year-old enjoyed his strongest affinity with the Magpies despite spending little over 18 months at St James’ Park. An impressive 16 goals in his debut season saw Ba help Newcastle achieve Europa League qualification under Alan Pardew.

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Speaking to the i, the former striker vowed to “pay Newcastle a visit” as part of his fledgling boardroom career. Ba said: “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.

“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.”

“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.”