Newcastle confirm deal for Hatem Ben Arfa.

Rumours had been abound for a few weeks suggesting that Newcastle were set to sign Hatem Ben Arfa on a permanent basis during this transfer window.

It appears that those rumours were spot on as the club announced earlier today that a deal had been agreed with Marseille, and of course Hatem himself, which means that Newcastle have now secured the services of one of the best talents in Europe, on his day, until 2015.

This is Alan Pardew’s first signing as Newcastle manager, and it is one of the priorities he mentioned when he first joined the club. The fact that he has followed through on his word, and the fact that he appears to have the boards backing and got them to splash out £5.1 million in one hit, will hopefully settle some fans down who perhaps thought that Pardew was only here to go along with what the owners say.

Ben Arfa is currently recovering from the horrific double leg break that he suffered back in October, although he is currently set to return to training way ahead of schedule and could be back at Darsley Park as early as the start of February. This is what he had to say about his move to Newcastle:

“I am absolutely delighted to be signing for Newcastle United on a permanent basis,” said Hatem. “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.

“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.”

The lad does seem happy here, and it’s a fantastic bit of business and represents somewhat of a coup for Newcastle in the transfer market. Here we have a player who was linked with an £18 million move to Manchester United a couple of transfer windows ago, and he is ours for just over £5 million. It also proves that Newcastle can still sign international class players, despite the instability the club has gone through in terms of it’s Premier League staus.

Alan Pardew then added his toughts on Ben Arfa in his pre-match conference before the West Ham game this evening. He said:

“When I came to the club last month, one of my priorities was to secure Hatem on a permanent deal. The last thing I wanted was for us to lose him when his loan ended so we’re really pleased to have agreed that deal today.

“He’s obviously a top player and he’s shown that in France, at international level and in his short time here at Newcastle. I’m delighted to secure Hatem as my first signing and once he’s back fit, I have no doubt he’ll confirm just what a superb player he is.”

Derek Llambias has also had his say on the cature of Hate,. Speaking to www.nufc.co.uk, the Managing Director had this to say:

“Bringing Hatem on loan earlier in the season was quite a coup, but to sign him permanently on a long-term deal is even better.

“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.”

As strange as it seems, I have to say that the club, the manager, the managing director, and owner all deserve credit for putting their money where their mouth is and securing Ben Arfa on a permanent basis. It would have been very easy for them to disregard the lad given that he has been out injured, ut they have showed a bit of faith in him and signed up permanently.

Great news, and just what I wanted to read when I wake up!

Editor’s note – This would have been up early but for a slight technical hitch with the ‘blog. Hopefully this issue has now been resolved. Fingers crossed!