10 Best Free Signings Ever Made By Newcastle United

1. Demba Ba

Arriving at St James' Park with a dodgy knee and the promise to "win games" for Newcastle, we were treated to 29 goals in 58 games from the Syrup Loving Goal Machine during the 18 months he spent on Tyneside. Stoke had originally turned down the chance to sign Ba in January before he was drafted in by West Ham and his knee issue was described as a "ticking time bomb" by Tony Pulis.

The Senegalese international invoked a release clause in his contract following the Hammers' relegation allowing the Magpies to snap him up for nothing in June 2011. And he was a categorical success in Black and White, scoring 16 times - including two hat-tricks - in the first half of his debut campaign only to hit a lean patch upon the arrival of international team-mate Papiss Cisse in the winter transfer window. He was still voted as the best signing of the season by Premier League managers

Putting his impact into context, however, shows that Ba was responsible for 15 of the 65 points Newcastle accumulated during during 2011/12 to finish fifth in the table, meaning without his contributions we would have just scraped into 10th and missed out on Europa League qualification. Similarly in 2012/13, take away the 13 goals he registered before defecting to Chelsea in January and it would have shaved 11 points off our total resulting in demotion to the Championship.

All without a penny spent in earnest.