Friday, April 12, 2013

Hatem Ben Arfa gives Newcastle boost by vowing to stay - The Sun



KEVIN KEEGAN has branded Newcastle a “selling club”.


Demba Ba left for Chelsea in January and Yohan Cabaye and Fabricio Coloccini have already been linked with summer moves.


And Keegan, who cut short his second spell in charge at St James’ Park in 2008 after a fall-out over the club’s transfer policy, said: “Some players will move on and I think that’s what Newcastle want.


“I think they are a selling club.”



HATEM BEN ARFA has given Newcastle the ultimate pre-derby boost by insisting: I want to stay on Tyneside.


The fit-again wing wizard had been linked with a summer move to Liverpool in a potential swap deal with former Toon striker Andy Carroll.


But ahead of tomorrow’s clash with Sunderland, Ben Arfa, 26, said: “I want to stay here. My agent and I have not talked about a move.


“I am focused on Newcastle and 100 per cent on Newcastle. I hope to stay.”


Ben Arfa returned from injury to make a second-half cameo against Benfica in the Europa League on Thursday — just his second appearance of the year and his first at home since November.


The former Marseille star has been sidelined with a hamstring problem which at one stage looked like ruling him out for the entire campaign.


But he was unleashed with half an hour left against the Portuguese giants, helping set up Papiss Cisse for Newcastle’s opener in the 1-1 draw which resulted in a 4-2 aggregate defeat.


And Ben Arfa is now desperate to help fire Toon to derby glory — and repay the Geordie fans for sticking by him this year.


He said: “It has been a difficult period. It has taken quite a while to get back to full fitness, but that is normal.


“I am completely over all of this now.


“I am 100 per cent OK and looking forward to playing in the rest of the season. Hopefully, I can have a good game and make the fans really happy.


“The supporters have stuck with me through some difficult times, and it would be nice to repay them.


“Sunday is a very good opportunity for me to do that.”


Tomorrow’s High Noon showdown at St James’ Park is one of the biggest Tyne-Wear affairs in years.


Sunderland are above the drop zone only on goal difference while Newcastle remain just five points clear of the bottom three. And Ben Arfa knows a win tomorrow would go a long way to securing Toon’s top flight status — as well as pushing Paolo Di Canio’s Black Cats closer to the drop.


He said: “It is a big derby and we all know just how important this game is to everybody.


“It is massive for the players, the fans and everyone associated with Newcastle.


“For a long time now, everybody has been talking about this game.


“Even in the build-up to our Europa League quarter-final, people were talking about Sunday’s game. That just proves how important it is for everyone.


“We want to win the game and it doesn’t really matter what happens to Sunderland after that.


“If they end up going down, it is not our problem. That won’t be part of our thinking. The main focus is for us to stay in the Premier League.


“We probably have to win two or three more games to do that, and Sunday is very important because it is the first opportunity to claim one of those victories.


“If we win we have a very good chance of staying up.”


Newcastle goalkeeper Tim Krul admits the return of Ben Arfa has given the whole side a huge lift for the run-in.


And he reckons the French flier will become a Toon legend if he bags a derby winner.


Krul, 25, said: “He’s our special player, he can make things happen and you could see that on Thursday.


“It’s nice that he’s back because it gives us an extra spark.


“You saw against Benfica he was close to winning the game for us.


“Hatem will become a legend if he scores the winner against Sunderland — anybody will.”



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