Sunderland loaned Abdoullah Ba to Ligue 2 side Dunkerque on deadline day. There, he’s linked up with a former Newcastle United man in Demba Ba, who’s a minority owner at the club.
Abdoullah Ba has brought an end to his Sunderland nightmare, for the time being at least, by joining Dunkerque on loan for the remainder of the 2024/25 season.
They sit in 4th place of the Ligue 2 table right now with Regis Le Bris’ former club Lorient in 1st. Meanwhile in England, Sunderland sit in 4th place of the Championship table and host Luton Town on Wednesday night.
Ba has since made his debut for Dunkerque. He came off the bench late on in the recent win against Alexandre Mendy’s Caen, marking his first senior appearance since playing against Preston in the Carabao Cup at the start of the campaign.
Oddly enough, former Newcastle United striker Demba Ba is a minority owner at Dunkerque, and he’s also a big fan of his namesake loan star Ba.
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Demba Ba hails Abdoullah Ba, but says ‘no chance’ of deal for Sunderland star
Speaking to iNews, Demba Ba has revealed that Abdoullah Ba is a player who he’s liked for a long time now. He explained: “He’s a player that I’ve been following for a long time… When I saw him at 17 or 18 I really liked the profile of the player that he was.
“He did well for Le Havre, went to England and then I saw he wasn’t playing too much this season. But I know the player, it’s just a little click that needs to happen in his mind for him to be able to perform because once again I know the quality of the player.
“When you see his attributes, it’s unbelievable. The agility he has with the ball, his mentality and even the speed and everything. If you train hard, with all these attributes you have a great career unless something’s not right I would say mentally, emotionally or something like this.
“I decided to bring him on board because he’s better than the level of French second division. We’re going to work on the mental aspect, the emotional aspect to get him back on track.”
But Ba then revealed that there’s ‘virtually no chance’ of sealing a permanent deal for the Sunderland man at the end of the season, with the Black Cats still paying a huge chunk of his wages.
What Regis Le Bris previously said about Abdoullah Ba
Last season, Ba was a very divisive player at Sunderland. Some games he looked like a great asset in the Championship, and in others he looked lost.
But Le Bris thinks he’s a good professional. Speaking way back in September, Le Bris revealed that Ba had the chance to leave Sunderland, explaining: “Adil [Aouchiche] and Abdoullah are with us until the next transfer window, so they have my trust as players of Sunderland and players who have qualities to play and perform in the game.
“Because they had the opportunity to leave, they needed to reconnect to the project and I like their behaviour in the training sessions this week.”
Now for Ba, the remainder of this season is about getting minutes under his belt. From there, he has options: he can return to Sunderland and try to work his way into the first-team picture, or put himself in the shop window for a summer move.
Either way, Ba leaving the Stadium of Light on deadline day was a good move, and it looks like he’s joined an ambitious project at Dunkerque too.