Demba Ba agrees to terms, reportedly passes Chelsea medical

Senegalese striker Demba Ba will seemingly be officially joining Chelsea in short order, having reportedly agreed to personal terms with the club and passed his medical. There has not of yet been an official announcement from the club, but I'd expect we will see one in short order.

At just £7 million, Ba's transfer fee was certainly reasonable, even for a player that will turn 28 shortly after the season ends. He'll not have much (if any) resale value, but he should provide valuable depth at center forward over the course of the next several seasons.

The rotation of our center forwards will be interesting, as Ba is cup tied in the Europa League. If Chelsea were to make a deep run in that competition, they would need to use Fernando Torres as their main option in all of those games. Ba is eligible for both domestic cups however, meaning that he could potentially be debuting in one of the club's next two games*. The League Cup tie in particular would seem like an ideal place to break Ba in, he'd have had several training sessions under his belt by that point.

*To be eligible to play against Southampton, the deal needs to be official by noon tomorrow and he needs to be registered with the club

Most reports seem to indicate that this signing will be a 3-1/2 year deal, so the risk involved with Ba's knees is significantly reduced. I honestly can't find anything to complain about with this, and it certainly is refreshing to have something other than losing to QPR to write about today. Welcome to Chelsea Demba Ba, we've needed you for a while.