Should we make Demba the highest paid player to keep him?

A question bandied about a lot at the moment but one I'll ask.

My view is that we should do our best to keep him, even if it means offering him a package to make him our top earner.

It's a slight change to my recent view expressed when the negative comments were coming out of his camp but think of it this way... if you earned, say £40-50k and were joint top scorer in the prem.... wouldn't you look around and think... 'hello... these other strikers are on £200k a week and I'm on a fraction of that?'.........

A few considerations/ways to get round the problem....

1- We could give him a basic in line with, say Colo but offer a better bonus on goals scored
2- We could change our wage policy slightly (does it increase in line with inflation BTW?)
3- We should be factoring in the zero transfer fee we paid (ok some agents fees etc... but that happens with all transfers)
4- What about a 'signinig on' bonus to offset any of the perceived shortfall?

For me it all boils down to a cost benefit analysis... in that for the sake of a few million now... are we gonna expose ourselves to having to pay multiple times that to sign a replacement as good? Surely the benefit of stretching a bit for him now would pay dividends further down the line?

Obviously there is the danger of his knee going pop (but aren't all players potentially at risk of serious injury?) but he loves the toon... the fans love him so that's half the battle surely.

 

I personally think hoping to achieve anything big with such a tight spending budget and 50k wage cap is a bit unrealistic.

But right now, no, I don't think we should break the wage cap to keep Demba, and I don't think we need to.

Demba Ba has done **** all wrong, it was his agent and brother that were stirring **** up, and the press making things seem way over the top.

Demba Ba said he was unhappy at one point, so the press start **** saying "Ba to Leave Newcastle?", "holy **** Ba leaving in transfer window due to unhappy times at Newcastle". "Trouble in Newcastle dressing room?".

I don't think offering more money will decide anything, Ba doesn't seem like that sort of bloke. 50k is enough for the level we're playing at now. The deciding factor will be how happy Ba is with his current role, and what offers come in for him, not us offering him an extra 20k a week.

Colo signed a new contract and I doubt he's on 80k a week anymore. I'm not sure what the wage cap is, but I doubt anyone, except Xisco, is on more than 50k a week.

I know there's no direct proof that that is the cap, but I think we can conclude that it is around that much, and the reported wages were around 50k when we signed Demba, as he was a free signing. Barton was on 60k+ a week, and we couldn't get rid of him quick enough, and Nolan was on 50k, and left for more money to WHU who gave him 70k. He was our top scorer and we were more than happy to let him go for only a few million.

So I think it's safe to assume it's around 50k.

 

Throwing money at any problem isnt going to make it go away. If hes not happy then let him earn his wage elsewhere. Im not happy at work, my manager offers more money, I accept and continue to look elsewhere anyway.

 

As this is all speculation it is a bit pointless as far as actual figures go but i think just like several other players have been rewarded for good form with increased contracts then Demba deserves the same. How much and how far we can afford to go without disrupting the system is up to the club and whether or not agreement can be made. The main thing for me is that Demba is worth far more to us as a player than the £7 Million we will get from his sell on clause and if this was removed and he still left to a big spending club then at least we then would recoup enough to buy a quality replacement which sadly £7 Million wont. Therefore to me its a no brainer, we need him on a new contract with no sell on clause unless its at least £15 Million.

 

Is the pay the problem, or is it merely that he doesn't get to play in the role where he scores most freely since Cisse joined? Maybe it's a combination, if he's on goal bonuses. Personally, I'd tweak his contract a bit, give him the same basic wage but offer him something mental like £2 million quid if he scores 30 goals in all competitions... But I'm scizo, so I wouldn't take anything we say seriously

 

Is this thread only here because Papiss hasn't started his goal machine yet? Anyhow Ba will not leave us in January.

 

Does anyone actually know how much Demba is on currently??? I think he has a large part of his wages payed through appearance bonus because of his knee, which would explain why he wouldn't be happy on the bench.

If he is below the wage cap i would bump it up to NEAR the cap (minus 5-10k) plus a good season's goal bonus.

 

no mate. it's because we have a striker at the top of the scoring chart and also teams like Liverpool who are crying out for a proven striker and have been know to pay daft wages for some players..

 

With the extra revenue the club is supposed to make from next season with the new broadcasting deal. Re-negotiating Ba and Ben Arfa's contracts should be priority one. Ben Arfa is who they should break the bank for. Easily worth a budget busting contract which he will eventually get, just most likely not with us!

 

No we shouldn't break policy for any player.

 

Especially not one with a 'ticking time bomb' knee.

 

I was referring to Ben Arfa and yes I would pay him more just like Barca pay Messi more. He is worth that much to our team.

 

I'm not worried at all and don't think there is any great need to go throwing stupid money at him. We'll need to increase his wage in line with his performances and removing the clause. Looks a happy lad to me. The key to whether we can afford to break from the structure will come down to two things. The club doing well on the field and generating extra income through EL or CL. The club doing well off the field and furthering the brand to increase our revenue from merchandise, sponsors etc a la Man U etc. They can then relax the structure to ensure the revenue to wages ratio is maintained. Of course you will always hit a point where you may have to bend the rules a little for one whilst you work to get there but I don't think there is anything to worry about.