Does Demba really have a release clause?

To be honest I'm little bit fed up of talk of clauses. I thought we'd gone past that time of year and didn't have to worry about it until next December, but still...

Harry Redknapp has seen to that though as, once again, he goes public when declaring interest in a player. It's not a new thing although it's worth pointing out that the bloke went scatty when Chelsea done the same to him with Luka Modric.

The object of Redknapp's media affection this time around? Much like last January it involves a Newcastle striker, but this time it's Demba Ba who is the object of the alleged tax dodgers affections. The Tottenham manager spoke rather openly to the media about a release clause in the contract of Demba Ba and admitted that he, along with a lot of other clubs, is interested in the Senegal international.

The thing that annoys me is that Redknapp does this all the time. He'll twitter on about players at other clubs when he really hasn't got the authority to say anything about them. It's a move designed to unsettle players and whilst I'm not naive enough to believe it doesn't go on behind closed doors I do believe that talking of things like this in public is a step too far.

Still, Redknapp is on trial on the 23rd of this month so if he wants to sign Ba he'll have to get in there pretty quick!

Now a whinge about Redknapp won't change anything, but it does make me feel a bit better. I like to have a moan from time to time. The real question is whether or not Demba Has a clause in his contract and just what that clause is. Now not being privvy to personal details (unlike Redknapp seemingly) I'm going to have to use history to try and work it out.

Ba does have a history of having clauses in his contracts. He had one at West Ham regarding his release pending a relegation - a wise move really considering that West Ham were bottom of the table when he signed for them and pretty standard practice for a player to ask for one when the club he is joining is running the risk, and subsequently ended up, being relegated.

However contrary to popular belief he didn't have a clause in his Hoffenheim contract. Instead it was more of an agreement between the club and player. This is what ultimately caused Ba and Hoffenheim to fall out as Ba felt that the German outfit stepped in the way of a move when a Premier League club (Stoke City) came calling. Ba basically tried to force the move himself although it didn't work out thanks to the medical and that is when Ba ended up at West Ham.

That is only one side of the story though. We need to look at the other party to get a fuller picture. Would Newcastle United really leave themselves vulnerable in the transfer market? Would they really have such a low release clause in his contract? Could the kings of the contract loopholes have left themselves wide open?

You'd have to say that it's unlikely wouldn't you? I mean we seem to spend most of our time scouring for players who have the same kind of clauses in their contracts that the press and Redknapp seem to believe is in Ba's contract, which kind of goes against everything that the club seem to be doing in the transfer market does it not?

Now I'm not denying that there may be some form of release clause in Demba Ba's contract. What I am questioning is what the extent of that clause is. It might be something like a relegation release clause or it might be a minimum fee release clause. If it is the latter I very much doubt it will be as low as is being reported by bastians of journalism such as the Daily mail or Colin Warris on Twitter!

None of the local press have mentioned this previously and they are usually pretty hot on things like this, especially Mark Douglas who is on the money 99% of the time. More mischief making by Redknapp?

Surely not, your honour!