Ben Arfa has "mad desire" to return.

As Hatem Ben Arfa moves ever closer to a return to training the inevitable anticipation of the fans to see the player return to action will no doubt crank up a gear or two.

It also appears that Ben Arfa is eager to return to action, which is understandable given the amount of football the 23-year-old has missed as he has sat on the sidelines recovering from the double leg break he suffered at Manchester City back in October.

Ben Arfa is Newcastle's only piece of business so far in this transfer window as the club moved to ensure that skilled Frenchman was secured on a permanent deal to warn off any potential intertest from other clubs. A fee of around £5 million has been mentioned, although we will probably never know exactly how much the transfer cost due to the nature of the infernal 'undisclosed fee'.

To be honest, I don't really care how much it cost. All I care about is that we have secured a player who, on his day, can turn a game on it's head by producing a moment of magic, much like he did at Goodison Park earlier on in the season.

A return to training can't be far off for the lad who continues his recovery in France at the moment. His return to fitness will have to be taken slowly though and it could well be that we don't see the best of Hatem Ben Arfa until next season.

I found this brief update on the recovery of Hatem on talkSPORT. See what you think.

"I have a mad desire to play football again," Ben Arfa said. "But the doctors told me I should not rush it. We must be rigorous in this regard."

"The closeness of my family in the Paris region has made me decide to recover at Clairefontaine. Things are going well so far."

I would have liked him to be recovering at Newcastle to be honest, so he can get to know his fellow players, the fans, the area a little bit better, but it's only a slight concern. What really matters is that Benny fully recovers with as little chance of a setback as possible.

And if he has to be in France, who have better medical facilities according to our roving medical reporter, Geordie Deb, to recover fully then so be it.

Get well soon Benny. I can't wait to see you back!