Mike Ashley and the only good to come of a broken leg

It’s been noted in recent weeks that our stock is quite high over in France at the moment. A lot of this could be down to the fact that we currently have one of the best prospects in French football on our books in the form of Hatem Ben Arfa. Mike Ashley’s passion for gambling is no secret to most Newcastle fans and to say the signing of the young Frenchman was a gamble at the time is an understatement.

As well as his incredible talent Ben Arfa is equally well known for his sometimes selfish temperament. A few years ago it would have been inconceivable that a freshly promoted PL club would be in a position to land a star of his undoubted quality. The question at the time wasn’t whether he could bring something to the squad; as it he unquestionably had the ability in his locker to be an asset to any team as his debut screamer against Everton would attest to. The question was whether we should risk the dressing room harmony and spirit which has generally been attributed as the defining factor in our barn storming championship season.

Ashley took the gamble on an initial loan probably with one eye on the potential to sign him on a cut price deal in the event of a successful period with us. Knowing that if he eventually hits the heady heights expected of him then the dividend could be huge. Hatem as expected by many came flying out of the blocks showing that he wouldn’t be taking his time settling into the English game. Then came what seemed like a travesty at the time but could be the biggest blessing we could have asked for in the long run. The double leg break at the hands of Cities Nigel De Jong put his toon career on ice and his career in jeopardy. Ashley took the biggest gamble of them all by thrashing out a cut price deal to land the stricken Frenchman on a permanent deal. However, it’s my belief that had De Jong not scythed down the wing wizard he would have almost certainly forged such a formidable reputation in the PL that we would have never been afforded the opportunity to sign him up in the season’s end. And certainly not for the price we eventually paid for him.

My question is should we be grateful that we lost Hatem for an extended period for the greater good and should Ashley be given a deserved pat on the back if Ben Arfa shines as expected this season?

 

We always had a first option on him, and if he'd played 25 games last season he would have joined due to a clause for the agreed price, around £5.5m

 

Whatever else we may hold against him, Mr Ashley deserves a very large amount of credit for the players he has brought to the club since promotion.

 

I'll never be grateful that Ben Arfa had his leg snapped in a near career ending stupid tackle from a player who regularly goes in like that.

Its also well known we had a clause in the loan contracted that it would be made permanent after 25 games.

Im glad we have a decent name in France, but i very much doubt thats solely down to seeing Hatem while he was injured.

 

Our Nigel................the king-fu Dutchman................possibly the only player in living memory to be dropped from his national side for being so dirty!!!!!!

 

i actuelly raised a very similar point in a thread on old606, we need him more this season for a euro and cup run that we would last season just to survive, and we may have lost him if he had a good but pointless stormer last season.

 

also we could have signed him for 5m anyway becuase we had a loan futre fee agreed

 

whether he played 2 games or 25 games last season, the claus was there to buy him if we wanted to.
i would rather have had him playing all season and helping us to a higher league position.

 

Either way we would have him on our books, plays 25 games, we buy him by a clause, he plays less than 25, we get first choice for the same price we bought him as a clause. Your argument is pointless because either way, he would be ours.

 

The only thing he deserves in his back is a knife.

 

You forgot to mention he nearly had to have his leg amputated after a complication in the first surgery.

 

I thought that this was going to be an article on the club's handling of HBA's injury and the way it enhanced our reputation in France.

As others have already said, we would have still signed HBA even if he had not been injured, but the sensible and sympathetic way that the club handled his recovery, not to mention all the messages of support that he received from the fans, have generated a lot of goodwill towards our club in french football.

It has already been mentioned by some of our new signings that Ben Arfa spoke very highly about our club and its fans.

 

Remember a while ago when it said something like "some of the French national squad even asked Ben Arfa if Newcastle might be interested in bidding for them". And we thought, yeah as if French internationals would specifically want to come here...

(was going to put a picture of Cabaye here but whenever I post pictures it doesnt work )

 

Here you go:

please log in to view this image

 

Ah, thank you.

 

Yeah, but to say this is just because of how we handled the situation when he was injured has to be wrong...

Surely if he didnt get injured and played the full season we would have achieved the same and quite possibly more?

He was already a fan faveourite and if he progressed throughout the season like that, he'd of been in instant legend. He'd have also been talking about that to other members of the national team whilst playign along side them... We also 'might' have finished higher. A higher league finish is always going to be pull for new signings.

It's not as if we've only just been able to sign French players because of the way we handled Ben Arfa, because the scouts have clearly been looking at the Ligue 1 market for ages now.

The whole agent talk thing that French players would 'love' to play for Newcastle United is just that... Agent talk. We've already seen enough of French based players turn us down this season or put us as #2 to make that statement void.

Obviously we've benefited by how we handled the situation, but we could have been a much bigger force if the whole injury didnt happen in the first place.

 

That is not what I said.

 

bit of a hunk is that Cabaye lad. next thing you know he'll be doing L'Oréal adverts

 

however the injury might have made him more loyal to the club not that i'm glad that it happened.

 

I wasn't replying to you alone.