It seems no secret that Olympique Marseille player Hatem Ben Arfa is a Newcastle target and that the Newcastle club are currently negotiating for the transfer of the 23 year-old.
Hatem Ben Arfa – talks continue with Marseilles
It has been widely reported that Newcastle are in solid negotiations for the player, and that was hardly diminished when Olympique Marseilles President Jean-Claude Dassier confirmed that talks were indeed ongoing with Newcastle United for their youngster.
The controversial midfielder, who seems difficult to get on with, and has argued in the past with other players and even his manager, has been made available for the summer transfer market.
His past disciplinary record has put some doubts into the minds of some Newcastle fans, but Chris Hughton has a good record of getting on with his players, gaining their respect, and getting the very best out of them.
But on the other side of the coin, this Frenchman is an excellent player, and is looked on as being one of the French stars of the future.
Dassier was asked yesterday about the negotiations and he curtly replied:
“We must wait and see what happens. The discussions will continue.”
Newcastle have missed out on a loan deal for Tom Cleverley today, but maybe that’s because Ben Arfa is close to coming to Newcastle.
We’ll see.
Comments welcome.
127 comments so far
geordielad880
Aug 5, 2010 at 1:32 PM
Comment #81well the london rumour ties in with what i said about west ham, tottenham have also showed an interest in the past aswell, cant see them needing him now, with modric already there
NUFC_Richyg01
Aug 5, 2010 at 1:39 PM
Comment #82Think West Ham is where he was meant to be
geordielad880
Aug 5, 2010 at 1:41 PM
Comment #83yeah thats what i got told, when i posted it earlier on, i just pass on what i get told, and he is supposed to be west ham bound
lesh
Aug 5, 2010 at 1:41 PM
Comment #84Guardian yesterday reported WHU to have tagerted a ‘young French international’.
One thing’s for sure, they’ll be keen to get a prestige signing and well, have we missed the boat?
Flair:20
Aug 5, 2010 at 1:43 PM
Comment #85I’d love to think that he’s flying to Newcastle via London but sadly I fear we’ve been gazumped by West Ham. Loving the rumour about him being Danny Simpson’s cousin though – that is absolutely top drawer!
JerseyGeordie
Aug 5, 2010 at 1:45 PM
Comment #86G-lad, i’m sure OM want to be rid of him and perfer a straight transfer vs a loan, but all the teams that have been in for him as far as i’ve seen have offered loan to buy deals. So unless another team has come in late with a straight transfer we are still in this. Can’t see the club dishing out 6mil for him tho, at this time. If west ham come in with a bid like that we are sunk.
geordielad880
Aug 5, 2010 at 1:48 PM
Comment #87agreed jerseygeordie i think the german side will pay cash, well according to reports in france anyways
Flair:20
Aug 5, 2010 at 1:51 PM
Comment #88Question: when Ben Arfa said he wanted to join Newcastle, was this before or after West Ham showed an interest?
petey
Aug 5, 2010 at 1:52 PM
Comment #89Ben Arfa got selected for France squad.
N’zogbia too, should never have sold the miserable so and so
geordielad880
Aug 5, 2010 at 1:55 PM
Comment #90n’zogbia is overated i think, he has his moments, but can also be very poor, like most french players really lol
NUFC_Richyg01
Aug 5, 2010 at 1:56 PM
Comment #91well Hoffenheim, yesterday, were said to have an offer of £6m but wanted to pay it over a number of years.
Rich TOON Bristol
Aug 5, 2010 at 1:58 PM
Comment #92if we miss out on arfa along with boyd,cleverly,albin,hooper,ledley,beckford,moses etc… Then who the hell is hughton actually after?!? I mean we keep hearing that weve got money and that things are gonna happen but so far sice we secured promotion early and apparently got an “advantage” over our rivals in the market by doing so all weve actually done is sign a 36 yr old cb an un tested average championship rb and a free agent who wont kick a ball for us this side of xmas! Im sorry to be negative but i find it so frustrating hearing all these decent players were supposedly in for either sign for other teams or hughton say that theyre not the “right player”! So what im asking is if not even arfa for the decent fee reported then exactly WHO are we gonna actually sign that will positively improve our first team??? If arfa signs for west spam cos we didnt pull our fingers out then im not gonna bother following anymore news till man utd cos its just unbearable at the moment.and i dont hold out much hope in this simmos cousin fellas stories either. Rant over!
mattnufc
Aug 5, 2010 at 2:02 PM
Comment #93The young French international is this guy, Loïc Remy. I dont think they’re interested in Benjamin.
NUFC_Richyg01
Aug 5, 2010 at 2:03 PM
Comment #94Rich TOON Bristol,
Your right it is frustrating, but of those players you have mentioned, how many were we ACTUALLY after?
NUFC_Richyg01
Aug 5, 2010 at 2:05 PM
Comment #95Remy is talking to Stoke according to L’Equipe
NUFC_Richyg01
Aug 5, 2010 at 2:07 PM
Comment #96Remy Article…
http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lequipe.fr%2FFootball%2Fbreves2010%2F20100805_110729_remy-visite-stoke-city.html
JerseyGeordie
Aug 5, 2010 at 2:09 PM
Comment #97G-lad all reports that i saw said that the german side were offering around 1 mil up front on a loan to buy deal. Don’t know if that has changed.
I’m not bothered if we get him or not. In fact i’ll give a firm clap to our club if he does sign somewhere else on a straight transfer and not newcastle because we stuck to our guns. It shows belief and responsability. If he came here and failed, it would have been for a 3rd time and he would also be at an age in which you could argue that he peaked, thus making him worthless.
He is not proven in any league and we don’t have the funds to throw around on chance. An 800k deal now for him to prove his worth vs 6mil and crossed fingers is a big differance…
Rich TOON Bristol
Aug 5, 2010 at 2:13 PM
Comment #98yea thats exactly my point mate! In my opinion, and that is just my opinion all of those players would have improved our squad, some i’d say would make our starting 11 week in week out BUT tho they’ve been available and linked to us for whatever reason we either havent gone in for them or havent gone in seriously enough to sign any of them and since we were promoted weve only got gosling which will be good next year, perch who could flop and sol who in my opinion at best will play 15 maybe 20 games but not exactly building an ambitious team so far and all the players that us as fans see as great signings are obviously not coming our way and i cant think of any real quality in the calibre of arfa who would consider us which is why im getting so riled at the fact its not all wrapped up before anyone else gets a look in and not looks as tho we’ll lose out to a rival, and all this is assuming were even actually in for him which we might not even be! And if were not then it shows even less ambition!
geordielad880
Aug 5, 2010 at 2:19 PM
Comment #99rich toon bristol,most of it is just paper talk i think, but we did miss out on moses and beckford, hughton really wanted those 2, but ashley didnt wanna pay the fees required
Mags
Aug 5, 2010 at 2:19 PM
Comment #100Its obvious that OM would prefer Hatem to go to Hofferheim who have offered £6m all be it in staggered amounts, but the bottom line is that the lad himself wants to play in England and has dug his heels in. They have no option but to listen to him, they cannot force him to go to a club he does not want to join.
That explains why they even when they had knocked us back originally for our loan deal offer have subsequently had to re-open negotiations with us.
So far as I know the ‘ammers were strongly linked with French international Loic Remmy (who looks to be Stoke bound) and the mysterious young international who played in the world cup and turns out to be the young New Zealand star Winston Reid.
Nowhere have I seen mentioned about them being linked with Ben Arfa.
As you can see, I am clutching at staws.
cynicaltoonfan
Aug 5, 2010 at 2:20 PM
Comment #101Hello lads i am new to the blog, I can actually speak french and italian ( not very fluently but enough) and i spoke to my friend who lives in Marseilles and he said all the reports there said Hatem was coming here, and as as OM fan he was gutted because according to him Ben Arfa on his day is as good as a Ronaldo. But he also called him a flawed genius, because he is not mature and has a big ego and the reason he wasnts to leave is because Deschamp’s ( OM manager ) ego leaves no room for anyone elses
If you have any articles in french or italian i can have a look at them sometime personally i would like us to get this boy as he has a bit if star quality we dont have and having watched us aganist depor i still think we are missing something.
JerseyGeordie
Aug 5, 2010 at 2:21 PM
Comment #102rich it is frustrating but it is who we are atm. We have to walk a fine line in the tranfer market and if a team comes in with an offer we deam too rich we have to let it go. We can’t chase teams into finacial ruin. That means we will work the market slower and means we will lose out on some players but let us also not forget that, if a player choses another club over ours, for footballing reasons, there is nothing we can do there either.
NUFC_Richyg01
Aug 5, 2010 at 2:22 PM
Comment #103Welcome cynicaltoonfan
You will be hand to have around for all the foreign news!
geordielad880
Aug 5, 2010 at 2:25 PM
Comment #104agreed, now get translating 🙂 lol
Mags
Aug 5, 2010 at 2:29 PM
Comment #105Sorry re my post (100) I missed out that West Ham have also been linked with Serbian winger Miralem Sulejmani.
Still clutching at straws that we get Ben Arfa.
NUFC_Richyg01
Aug 5, 2010 at 2:35 PM
Comment #106Gazette ran an article on Ben Arfa, but they know no more than us…
http://www.shieldsgazette.com/nufc/Newcastle-face-a-fight-for.6459938.jp
geordielad880
Aug 5, 2010 at 2:35 PM
Comment #107we have obviously held some discussions because newcastle have not outright denied the rumour, hughton doesnt give much away, and he also said we might be surprised at the end of the window, and there was a higher calibre of player available to him than he originally thought 🙂 still hoping!!
JerseyGeordie
Aug 5, 2010 at 2:44 PM
Comment #108one thing that annoys me is how some ppl get all drunk happy over players from overseas off of hype. I wonder if instead of lyon and OM, if he had the same track record with chelski and city, would ppl still be looking at him as this golden boy who will answer all our problems.
And rich-
boyd, hooper, and ledley aren’t in the prem so goes to show you that they were deamed not good enough or they (unlikely) took more money from lesser leagues.
Moses wanted epl footy at a time when we were in the fizzy.
I don’t know much about the beckford dealing so can’t speak on that atm and albin hasn’t gone anywhere.
As you well know we’ll be linked with 1000 players in the window and might not rly be in for any of them. But its a marathon for us not a sprint. The signings we’ve made have been 2 players who chose us and 1 squad player that no one was in for. But any “quality” transfer, teams will hold out for the best offer.
There hasn’t been that many transfers anyway. Take a look at the transfers made and you’ll see it’s been slow for most teams.
cynicaltoonfan
Aug 5, 2010 at 2:46 PM
Comment #109Ok lads i from what i can understand the situation is pretty clear. According to reports in France TF1 and Eurosport Ben Afra has said that we are his preffered club. The problem lies within the fact that OM want about £6million for him for the transfer and we are only offering a loan with the view to buy back after the first season an offer they view as “riddicule” ( i can let the linguists amoungst you guess what that means ) on the other hand Hoffenhiem have offered the right amount of money but Ben Afra does not want to go there they offered 8 million euros around £6 million and so we are in a strong position we just need to convince Ashley to stump some cash out !
geordielad880
Aug 5, 2010 at 2:49 PM
Comment #110jerseygeordie i agree with your post, its like all the hype over veloso at sporting, he was the next big thing, yet he is still at sporting, alot of it is down to agents, touting about players, i think thats how we have ended up with alot of the foreign flops we have had, instead of doing the groundwork like wenger does, scouting for months, not just a couple of matches
geordielad880
Aug 5, 2010 at 2:53 PM
Comment #111ashley wont stump up the cash, to me we cant lose really, he has a resale value, cant see us losing much if anything on him, i still think taabart who has just signed for qpr would have been a decent squad player for us next season, would have added some width to come off the bench if needed, and at 1m is a bargain
JerseyGeordie
Aug 5, 2010 at 2:59 PM
Comment #112G-lad-spot on.
I have a portuguese background and can read it as well 😉 and the veloso talk was driving me insane. I know alot about him and virtually every portuguese i know feels he’s overrated or should i say was overrated as now he’s found his “big money” signing at the italian giants genoa lol… Sporting should have let him goes when the kettle was whistling cause i think they got somewhere around 5 mil euro for him vs the 10-15 being reported at the time.
Meireles is a stud however. He’d look perfect in black and white stripes 🙂
geordielad880
Aug 5, 2010 at 3:04 PM
Comment #113http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://www.om.net/&ei=7MNaTP-5I8b24AbM6sijAg&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CDsQ7gEwBA&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dmarseille%2Bfootball%2Bclub%26hl%3Den%26prmd%3Dm
taken off the OM website, sounds like he is staying.
geordielad880
Aug 5, 2010 at 3:07 PM
Comment #114its the story below, on a old thread on their official website, doesnt sound like a player that is leaving, however on other news, DD says he needs to raise money to sign players, and doesnt want to have to ask for money, so they defo wanna sell not loan
Hatem Ben Arfa, made in Tunisia
27/07/10 – Champions Trophy
JerseyGeordie
Aug 5, 2010 at 3:10 PM
Comment #115i disagree on the resale value. He’s at an age where you can still get good money for an “unproven” player. But in 2 yrs, if he is a bust for a 3rd time and at 26, you couldn’t give him away. That is why OM are holding out for a straight transfer, because they know that if he fails at the toon and we send him back they will never see the money being offered now. They want to cash in and be done with him. We can’t afford to throw away 6 mil right now.
Agree with you on taabart. At 1 mil risk reward is right where we want it to be and i think there would’ve been more reward 😉
geordielad880
Aug 5, 2010 at 3:13 PM
Comment #116when we got relegated i wanted us to sign:-
taabart
routledge
gunter
ched evans
I think they all would have been decent signings at the time, and taabart is a bargain, there is so little risk involved, and he is what we need, and that cover, we need squad depth
Natureboy95
Aug 5, 2010 at 3:28 PM
Comment #117Justy to put my two pennth in i heard that we had a bid of 5.5m accepted and we were talking terms? the bottom line is no one knows really whats is going on.Just need to wait and see, I can see him getting his head turned by playing in London mind.
tjshawsey
Aug 5, 2010 at 4:06 PM
Comment #118What I said about him wanted to come the other day was because we were the ONLY club in England after him at that time. If another club is in for him, that changes everything.
NUFC_Richyg01
Aug 5, 2010 at 4:08 PM
Comment #119Anyone heard the link to Deniz Yilmaz.?
pearceet
Aug 5, 2010 at 4:10 PM
Comment #120Where has all this West Ham chat come from…. looking over the internet there is no such news on any of their blogs???