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It will be a disappointment of sorts for British viewers – if maybe not for Tottenham Hotspur – that there will be no Demba Ba for Besiktas this evening.
The Senegalese striker, who joined Besiktas from Chelsea this summer, has been in excellent form since coming Turkey. He is the second-top scorer in Super Lig, only behind Greek veteran Theofanis Gekas, and has 13 goals already in all competitions. He is already a hero to the loyal Besiktas fans, for his hard work on the pitch, and incredibly highly spoken of around the club.
This is all in some contrast to previous expensive imports, whose high prices caused problems for one of Turkey’s biggest clubs. Guti, Ricardo Quaresma and Simao had all been and gone at Besiktas but it is only under the new president Fikret Orman, and new manager Slaven Bilic, that the new standards of hard work and application have been installed at Besiktas.
There is a new core of young Turkish players – some of them born abroad – with just occasional foreign imports to bolster them. Ba has, so far, been brilliant. He will be missed tonight.
