Newcastle United free transfer confirms ‘greatest decision’ after social media post

The Senegalese striker was released following West Ham United’s relegation from the Premier League and quickly snapped up by Newcastle. The move was completed on June 17, 2011 and would go down as one of The Magpies’ greatest ever free transfers.

Ba is now 38-years-old and retired but arguably played the best football of his career at Newcastle. And the former striker certainly seems to look back on his time at United fondly.

Responding to Newcastle United’s official Twitter account about him joining the club on this day in 2011, Ba tweeted: “One of my greatest football decision.”

Ba scored 16 Premier League goals in his first season at Newcastle, including hat-tricks against Blackburn Rovers and Stoke City as the club finished fifth and qualified for the Europa League. The following season, the striker scored a further 13 goals in 20 matches before joining Chelsea in January 2013.

But after making the move, Ba struggled to rediscover his Newcastle form as he scored 14 goals in 51 appearances for Chelsea in all competitions. He still managed to score some important goals for The Blues, most notably capitalising on a Steven Gerrard slip in a 2-0 win over Liverpool in the 2013-14 title race before he joined Besiktas in the summer.

After an impressive season in Istanbul, Ba joined Chinese Super League side Shanghai Shenhua. The latter years of his career were spent between Turkey and China before he briefly joined Swiss Super League side Lugano, announcing his retirement after just three appearances for the club in 2021.