Ben Arfa set for July 4th return

Posted on May 29th, 2011 | 12 Comments |

Newcastle's Hatem Ben Arfa due to return on July 4th.
Whispers are untrue
Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew dismisses ‘whispers’ alleging that Ben Arfa will never be the same player after his broken leg.

Apparently there have been ‘whispers’ that Hatem Ben Arfa will never properly recover from the double leg break inflicted upon him by Nigel de Jong.

All I can say is that they must have been very quiet whispers as I hadn’t heard them. Pardew, however, must have better ears than me because he had heard these whispers and responded thusly:

“I would dismiss that straight away. I don’t see any problem with him coming back just as good as he was.

“You’re talking about a really bad break. And I think we were buoyed by his last visit because he was a lot, lot better within himself.

“I think anyone who has suffered an injury like that, you’ve got to give him time, you’ve got to understand what is happening.

“You don’t rush it and we won’t with Hatem.“

Pardew admits that talk of Ben Arfa returning for the last three games of the season was unrealistic and was really intended just to keep the lad positive. Apparently both player and manager are targeting a July 4th comeback. Pardew said:

“I know we made noises that he might play in those last three games but realistically, I never gave him a chance.

“I was trying to keep the boy’s head up to be honest. I don’t want him to see negative press so I said he might play in those three games.

“But I thought I was doing the right thing for Hatem, so that he genuinely felt he had a chance because he was quite low about his training, his workrate and everything.

“Once he knew he wasn’t going to make the games he probably accepted that and now he is aiming to be ready for July 4.”

I hope this is true as what little we’ve seen of Ben Arfa seems to show him as one of our rising stars, adding some much-needed creativity to our midfield.

NUFCBlog Author: Hugh de Payen I'm a baby-boomer of the punk rock persuasion, currently exiled in Somerset for crimes committed in a previous life where locals keep trying to poison me with something called 'scrumpy'. Hates sprouts, coat-hangers, Cilla Black, ornaments, Steven Seagull movies and 50 Cent (he's not worth 10). Hugh de Payen has written 634 articles on this blog.

Related Posts:

Posted on by Hugh de Payen in category: Alan Pardew and Hatem Ben Arfa and Hugh de Payen and Injuries and fitness and Interviews , with tags:
Comment on this post

12 Responses

  1. good of pardew to come out and admit he was bullsh1tting the lad , ffs now will the rest of the guys beleve a word he says , don,t think so , just like the fans , go take your head for a dump pardew

  2. It’s not bullshit it’s being savvy! In conferences and to press u can’t sat stuff like that I mean look at ferguson he kept saying Hargreaves was ok he should be back ony until recently was he more open and honest. Just sensible in middle of recuperation you have to give them something to aim for closer than july4th as it would have looked so far away

  3. Read the article properly and see why he said what he said. It’s just everything he says you want to say something negative it gets quite boring. Grow up

  4. Its true that years ago this would have been a career ending injury. FFS both bones in the lower leg snapped.
    Its amazing he doesn’t walk with a limp, let alone play football again.
    I’m glad Pardew didn’t rush him back. But if he’s not fit enough by july 4th then maybe we should start to worry.
    Fugging De Jong has a lot to answer for.

  5. i did read the article and i just can,t understand why he did,nt just say , we thought there might of been a chance of you getting back instead of saying i knew you were,nt going to make it , i was just bullshitting you lol, i do like to think positive of the toon but its hard to do that when we get let down time after time from the board, maybe some people forget the sale of our big players , milner given etc with no return (nothing to do with pardew i know ) but until i see some some quality come in then i won,t believe a word that come from his mouth (hba tiote only positive things thats come from ashly)

    bb yea its amazing he,s coming back strong , lets just hope he can repeat henrik larsson after his bad break , he came back just as strong as he was

  6. Steve I think the reason he said what he did,is that AP can’t stop trying to big himself up.He wants everybody to think what an astue bloke he is.

  7. Just a thought….if this everton rumor is true..why don’t we try get Seamus coleman as part of the barton deal…that would fit right in with MA view of bringing in quality youngsters…so Seamus coleman plus 2m for Joey Barton

  8. “I know we made noises that he might play in those last three games but realistically, I never gave him a chance.”

    “You lose Leon Best and you gain Hatem Ben Arfa – that’s basically where we are. I don’t think he’ll be involved for a while, and Liverpool will possibly be his first inclusion in my thinking.

    “If he can play one, two or three matches before the end of May, it would be fine both for us and him.”

    If Alan Pardew is admitting that he told us things he knew were untrue, then how does he expect us to believe him when he makes further “noises” (as he puts it)?

  9. And when Alan Pardew says “we”, who is “we” exactly?

    Pardew was the only person who came out in public to say that Ben Arfa might be making a return in the last few games of the season, possibly starting at Liverpool.

  10. worky@9…what’s your point ?….so he “perhaps” bullshitted….so what !…

  11. Munich Mag says:
    May 29, 2011 at 6:52 pm

    “worky@9…what’s your point ?….so he “perhaps” bullshitted….so what !…”

    Munich, It’s rather an imporant point. If he misled the fans and one of his own players, how are the fans, and the players supposed to trust what he says on important issues? And is it good for the reputation of the club that the manager says things in public interviews when he is almost certain that they are false?