If anybody had any doubts that Ben Arfa set his mind on coming to Newcastle United, and only to Newcastle when he knew he was leaving Marseilles, those doubts will be dismissed by what the lad has told the Evening Chronicle today, in a great interview.
Ben Arfa – knows all about the great Newcastle United club
Ben Arfa told the Evening Chronicle today:
“I am very, very happy to be here now.” “It took a long time to complete the move and now I am here and going into training with my new team-mates, I feel really happy with life.”
“I know how big this club is.” “It has a big history and has fantastic supporters.” “The history and how good the supporters are, is a very well known fact in France.”
“I also discovered that people from Newcastle are very friendly and I wanted to come.” “It is a very good challenge for me.” “It’s a club that has a certain stature in the English game and in European circles.”
“But not just that, the sporting challenge also appealed greatly to me.” “It’s a good group of players and one of the game’s best young managers here in Chris Hughton.”
“When you gel all of those factors together this is a very good place to launch my career.”
We know players who join clubs generally tell how they love it at their new club – but it seems to us this lad knew all about Newcastle United before he came, and the stories that when he heard Newcastle were interested – he set his mind on playing for Newcastle, and only for Newcastle, could well be very true.
He seems to love the Newcastle United club, so at least in that way, he’s just like the rest of us.
Daft on Newcastle.
Comments welcome.
16 comments so far
korn8
Sep 3, 2010 at 1:22 PM
Comment #1Yesterday i watched some old compilation of David Ginola at Newcastle. If Ben Arfa can be any where close to Ginolas brilliance, we have a cracking player.
I am hopeful about this young, talented french kid 🙂
And yes: Newcastle are a big club!
ginkoh
Sep 3, 2010 at 1:34 PM
Comment #2Haha I still don’t know why he want to sign for us so much but love it to see him here. Good business. Credit to Hughton, scouting staff and Ashley too.
Isaac Hunt
Sep 3, 2010 at 1:36 PM
Comment #3Unless he gets himself a Geordie lass, the Quayside, Bigg Market and the journos beckon.
Solaidback
Sep 3, 2010 at 1:38 PM
Comment #4So the boy speak perfect English then?? Somehow I think thats cript was probably written for him or he said what he wanted in french & our new PR irl translated it into that speel… lol
I’ve no doubt he wanted to come to us but I also have this niggling feeling thats he’s using us to get to one of the bigger clubs too, maybe I’m wron & we’ll see in 6-9 months time when, if he plays very well & say Arsenil, Chelski or Manc Ali City come calling, he tells them to go away politely 🙂
MacToon
Sep 3, 2010 at 2:09 PM
Comment #5Solaidback, maybe so or maybe he sees a chance at playing regular football for 50,000 fans and possibly become an adopted Geordie hero…. or maybe not!
Only time will tell. One thing though, I’m really looking forward to seeing him play and now we have Jonas, Routledge and Arfa to terrorise defences atleast.
SGToona
Sep 3, 2010 at 2:17 PM
Comment #6was this spoken in english or translated?
Born Again Geordie
Sep 3, 2010 at 3:02 PM
Comment #7Does it matter if it was spoken in French, English, Chinese or Japanese. Is it not what he does with his feet, i.e putting the ball in the back of the net, that really matters. 🙂
joppadoni
Sep 3, 2010 at 3:49 PM
Comment #8@4
your right SLB, hes only here to do a Geremi ( when @ boro ) however we need to match his ambitions and then theres no need for him to leave. i hope he does great for us 😀
SGToona
Sep 3, 2010 at 4:17 PM
Comment #9Born Again Geordie … my point is … if he is able to speak english, this will help him to settle into the team and area more readily, cuz not sure if any of our lads know how to speak french.
This was also one of the concerns for our foreign imports, ala enrique etc.
On the pitch, this will also help in the communication, especially true during set pieces, which i believe where we are most lethal.
Nonetheless, you are right … if he starts to put the ball in the back of the net … i would not care one bit if he speaks martian … 🙂
dave 1961
Sep 3, 2010 at 4:49 PM
Comment #10I have been to Paris and when I went into a bar they had a massive picture of the Tyne bridge and pictures of Newcastle, this was a shock as it was a French owned bar. so it seems some Parisians are clued up on Newcastle.
dave 1961
Sep 3, 2010 at 4:52 PM
Comment #11English is made up of about 60% French so it does not take too long for any French person to master English.
Dukis22lt
Sep 3, 2010 at 5:00 PM
Comment #12well cheick tiote should become good buds with arfa, both newcomers and speak french, i hope they both will settle in with easy
Stay classy Newcastle!
jesus was a geordie
Sep 3, 2010 at 5:11 PM
Comment #13He’s saying all the right things, he’s a class player and it’s a real coup that we got him, but I can’t help this nagging feeling that things will end badly with him…It could be a fight with another player, it could be a refusal to play or an attempt to go to another club, but I just see things turning sour…Really hope not though!
On a side note, I really like that Chris Hughton has gotten players who have a buddy…Obviously there’s the 3 amigos in Jose, Jonas and Colo…Then the frenchies – Tiote and Ben Arfa and finally I like the fact that Nolan seems to have taken Carroll under his wing – him, barton, raylor and smudger all seem to get on really well!
cupiddstunt
Sep 3, 2010 at 6:24 PM
Comment #14To be honest I don’t really care if he is looking to use us as a stepping stone to one of the top four of five clubs as that will mean he is putting in the effort to look good and that should translate into performances on the park.
If we get one full, class season out of him then we will have to cough up 5mill after 25 games then if some of the big money clubs come calling then we let him move on at a nice profit where’s the prob’s with that?
If on the other hand as some of you pessimists are banging on about he starts to throw strops then all that will do is alert the rest of the prem to stay clear of him, then it’s off back from whence he came and thanks very much OM but no you can keep him.
So for the pessimists what are you getting on about it is a win win situation is it not?
Or have I missed something?
TORONTOON
Sep 3, 2010 at 7:39 PM
Comment #155 mil is a steal for this kid. and you’re right maybe he’ll catch the toon bug when he steps out infront of 52k strong.
TORONTOON
Sep 3, 2010 at 7:42 PM
Comment #16this is gona sound stupid, but i had him in my NUFC master league team years ago…remember seeing that he had a huge potential curve hahaha