Ba wants to stay and fight for his place

Demba Ba says that he will stay at Chelsea to fight for his place even if Wayne Rooney signs for the Stamford Bridge club.

The Blues already have three centre forwards on their books in Ba, Fernando Torres and Romelu Lukaku, all fighting for what is likely to be one spot as Jose Mourinho looks to dabble with variations of 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3 so will only use one forward the majority of the time.

Speculation over Rooney moving to West London is refusing to go away and if the player does enough to force the move (if he really wants it) it just might happen, but not before Manchester United land a major target or two.

On the competition for his place, Ba said:

“I will stay.

“I think we need competition and we welcome the best players in this club.

“More competition is going to make me better anyway. All players want to play, not only centre forwards.

“We will all work in the same direction, for the club, to try and win the games.”

(Metro)

It would seem as though Mourinho is going to be forced to give Torres another chance as the forward’s wages and unwillingness to leave prevents a move, but he did improve last season even if it wasn’t spectacular and would likely be ahead of Ba in the pecking order as the former West Ham and Newcastle forward managed only six goals in 22 games for Chelsea last season.

Then there’s Lukaku, who was brilliant for West Brom last season with 17 premier League goals and has looked bright in the pre-season. I think the majority of Chelsea fans are hoping to see the youngster establish him as first choice over the course of the season and he does represent the best long-term option.

However, if Rooney does come in then he’ll likely be Mourinho’s number one forward which means everyone goes down in the pecking order and I just can’t see how it would work, if both Ba and Torres were to stay then they’d just be taking playing time off Lukaku, otherwise they’ll be stropping on the bench or in the stands.

Source: Metro