Newcastle United Complete £5M Signing Of Hatem Ben Arfa From Marseille

As Alan Pardew’s first purchase, Ben Arfa will look to augment an already strong Newcastle midfield who have impressed in recent weeks in league play. Already tenth in the table, the Toon will hope the attacking, left-sided midfielder is having a speedy and successful recovery period after his horrific injury and that Ben Arfa will soon be ready for first team action again.

Ben Arfa himself recently spoke to the media in England and seems chuffed to bits over his new deal which will make him a Magpie until 2015. As found on The Telegraph:

“I am absolutely delighted to be signing for Newcastle United on a permanent basis. During my short time at the club, I thoroughly enjoyed playing for the team and for the supporters too. This is a great club and I am very happy to be committing my future to them”.

Ben Arfa on his fitness and the new regime on Tyneside:

“I am getting back to fitness as quickly as I can and am really looking forward to getting back to St James’ Park, seeing the lads again and working with Alan Pardew and his staff. During my time out, I have been inundated with messages of support from fans and I want to repay them all with good performances on the pitch later this season”.

For fans of Newcastle United, the news is surely welcomed as Ben Arfa is the kind of player who can turn a game when he’s at his best. United’s managing director Derek Llambias also spoke on Ben Arfa’s permanent deal and alluded that capturing Ben Arfa was quite the coup:

“Alan Pardew made it clear that he wanted Hatem here beyond his loan spell so we have backed him and made that happen. Hatem is exactly the type of player that we want here; a young international class player with his best years ahead of him and now those years will be spent at St James’ Park”.