Newcastle in Ben Arfa bid, but believe it at your peril!
Posted on July 25th, 2010 | 71 Comments |
Still, the reports seem to be picking up in the press, and even though I still don’t believe it, the French press have also started to run with it.
L’Equipe reckon that Newcastle have bid for the unwanted Marseille troublemaker, with a potential fee of £5 million been bandied around for the player who was once dubbed as “the future of French football”.
Now the French press isn’t quite as bad as the UK press for making stuff up as they are regulated a bit more, but that doesn’t mean that everything is gospel. And depending on which particular report you read we could be buying the player, loaning the player with an option to buy, or missing out on the player all together.
I personally don’t believe a word of it. Werder Bremen are also supposed to be interested in the 23-year old player, and they have a chance of making the Champions League this season should they manage to make it through the qualifying rounds. At the very least they will be in the Europa league, and Newcastle just can’t compete with that I’m afraid.
Ben Arfa’s agent has also spoken to L’Equipe and dropped a hint that he could end up staying at Marseille;
“Hatem is a turning point in his career. Son choix sera sportif et uniquement sportif. His choice will be sports and only sports. He may very well stay at Marseille. He can not go on an adventure,” said his agent, Michel Ouazine.
When you add to that what our manager, Chris Hughton, said the other day then a move looks even less promising.
“I read about Ben Arfa. He is a cracking player and it’s nice to see us linked with him, but there has been absolutely no contact there whatsoever,” Hughton said.
Like I said in the title, the rumours are there, and it’s up to you if you choose to believe them. Undoubtedly Ben Arfa is a good player, but if we can see that then so can other clubs.
I’m not getting my hopes up, especially after Hughton pretty much knocked any expectations I had in the transfer market on the head when he mentioned “minimal spending” the other day. You can call it a smokescreen or whatever, but I can’t see any players of any known quality coming through the St James’ Park door this summer after that comment.
There is being positive about what can be achieved in the transfer market, then there is blind optimism of what can be achieved in the transfer market. I’m pretty positive that Hughton can get the players in that he wants, but I’m not so positive he wants a player that has a tendency to spit the dummy and refuse to even pass the ball to some of his team-mates.
For that, and many other reasons, I can’t see Ben Arfa coming to Newcastle.
Rumours been going on for well over a week now!
Reminds me of the modric and aimar deal!
Can’t see it happening sorry.