Demba Ba has blasted his old club Chelsea for being a team who favours ‘big names’ rather than statistics but insists he did not regret the short time he spent with the west Londoners following his move from Newcastle last year.
The former Chelsea striker, who completed his summer transfer to Turkish side Besiktas, has spoken out about his old side with a sense of resentment after spending last season in London as a part-timer under Jose Mourinho.
The Senegalese forward signed to Chelsea from Newcastle in the January 2013 transfer window under former coach Rafael Benitez but was fielded mainly as a substitute player during the side’s domestic and European runs throughout the 2013/2014 season.
The 29-year-old featured 25 times for Chelsea in 38 fixtures, of which just five were starts and 14 were substitute appearances.
After realising he did not feature in manager Mourinho’s plans going forward owing to his lack of features along with the arrival of Spanish ace Diego Costa, Ba revealed he felt a little pushed out owing Chelsea being hooked on the glamour of fielding big-name players.
He told The Daily Mail: “Sometimes when you are at a club with a lot of big stars, the name counts for more than the statistics. “Unfortunately, it was like that in my case.”
Ba admitted he will remember his time at Chelsea more for the friends he made rather than the impact he made.
“I am happy I moved from Newcastle to Chelsea and achieved what I did,” he said.
“I have lots of friends there. Eden Hazard is one of my best friends, I am close to Branislav Ivanovic, too. All my wishes are for them to win the league.”
The Senegal international, who is reported to be worth in the region of £10m, was shipped off to the Istanbul-based giants last month in a cut-price deal of around £4.7m.