Alan Pardew has never been too good on small details like how many players were out of the side last Saturday, and after the defeat at Stoke he said we have had 10 players out – but the truth is that we had four players missing – Remy, Debuchy, Sissoko and Santon.
Ben Arfa with Alan Pardew
And yesterday in his press conference Alan got his facts wrong about Ben Arfa, and it’s why a number of pundits are expecting Newcastle to sell Ben Arfa this summer.
This is what the Newcastle manager had to say about Ben Arfa:
“Does he have a future here? Yes. He’s still contracted here for two years,” “It’s like all players and all situations, there’s certain times when you talk to players and want more, and players want more from you as manager.”
“Those talks go on on a daily basis with all players, not just Hatem.”
The facts are that in January of 2011 after being on loan at the club from Marseilles for six months, Ben Arfa, who had a broken leg at the time, signed a four and a half year deal which keeps him at Newcastle until the end of June of 2015, so he’s got about 14 months left on his contract and not two years as Alan says above.
And since he will be a free agent next summer three things could happen:
- Newcastle could offer him a new contract this summer and he stays long term at Newcastle
- Newcastle sell him this summer so they get something for him
- Ben Arfa runs out his contract and leaves as a free agent next summer
That third possibility seems very unlikely to happen when Newcastle could get say £5M for him in the summer, and Mike Ashley has shown a number of times that money is all important to him.
Most people think number one above will happen, and with the stories of late that the Frenchmen has been causing problems in the dressing room, that’s another reason he could leave this summer.
In any case the 27 year-old Frenchman has just over 14 months of his current contract to run.
We hope he gets a new deal in the summer.
Comments welcome.
Note: Craig Finnigan is a Newcastle fan and graduated from Newcastle College in 2011, and he has created a one-off key ring, and all the profits will go to the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation.
You can view and buy the specially designed key ring here.
Thanks.
8 comments so far
BeeGuy
Apr 18, 2014 at 10:26 AM
Comment #1Ben-Arfa needs to learn how to play a position and not play with fear. Both of those items are clearly beyond AP’s ability to remedy.
Malta Mag
Apr 18, 2014 at 10:31 AM
Comment #2Pedantic or what???? Slag Alan Pardew off if that’s what makes you happy but let’s not become so petty in picking up on every single thing he utters in his press conferences. As for Remy, Collocinni and Ben Arfa can we just accept all three are leaving and move on as I for one am sick of the constant rumblings on their futures. Marveaux and Obertan will leave too but as I’ve said before, I hope Gosling stays. He came to Newcastle with a big reputation and has never had a chance. Last Saturday he was excellent and I think he has a future in the hole behind the strikers. It always amazes me how quick people on here dismiss players before they’ve even seen them on a regular basis.
Let’s put Swansea to the sword tomorrow and finish the season on a high and try and ignore those wishing for a defeat just to get rid of the manager! Ignorant, you should be ashamed of yourselves.
Happy Easter
Laurent Robert 32
Apr 18, 2014 at 11:04 AM
Comment #3Malta, you’re in dreamland. Wish I was there.
9 goals scored in 2014.
dmcclew
Apr 18, 2014 at 11:05 AM
Comment #4Sick of hearing about Ben Arfa. He’s isn’t a team player. I agree with Pardew in leaving him outl You don’t see many top teams knocking on the door to buy him, that says it all!
joenufc
Apr 18, 2014 at 12:30 PM
Comment #5Malta Mag. Ignorant? Ashamed of ourselves?
Wtf you basing those statements on.
You think we just make the crap that we are dealt from the club up?
Should we just be happy clappers dismissing all the shite we see and hear?
Love to know, please enlighten us fella.
joenufc
Apr 18, 2014 at 12:38 PM
Comment #6Oh and btw pick up on everything he says in press conferences hmmmm??? I thought that was the purpose of press conferences? You think he just gets a microphone rammed under his chin and told to speak? I have a theory for ya, maybe he and the club know when and where the press conference is scheduled for and they have sufficient time to brief pardew what and what not to say. Madness, even preposterous theory but that’s my take on a press conference.
Sav
Apr 18, 2014 at 1:03 PM
Comment #7If his team-mates are against him, as we’ve heard several times lately, because he won’t put a shift in, then the lad has to look at himself in the mirror and realise at 27 and with a WCup he’s just missed, he has one more crack at making something of himself. Whether it is here or somewhere else, I hope he can. But its no use blaming the manager, the system or team-mates for failure to do so.
Ericles
Apr 19, 2014 at 10:42 AM
Comment #8Lets be honest – that patsy Pardew is wrong about just everything.