John Welsh
The impending African Nations Cup will impact upon the squads of several English Premier League clubs, none more so than Newcastle United. The absence of prolific striker Demba Ba (Senegal) and influential midfielder Cheick Tiote (Ivory Coast) will place a huge burden on the remainder of the team to maintain the Magpies’ push for European qualification. But perhaps it will also provide an opportunity for Hatem Ben Arfa to finally realise his true potential.
Signed on loan from Marseille in August 2010, Ben Arfa made an explosive start to his Newcastle career by unleashing an unstoppable shot past Tim Howard in the Everton goal. It was the Frenchman’s first appearance for the club and he became an instant hero, but his promise was cruelly cut short against Manchester City in the first weekend in October.
In a clash with Nigel de Jong, Ben Arfa’s leg was fractured and a later infection of the same leg compounded the problem to such an extent that his playing career was temporarily placed in jeopardy. Recovery was slow, though it seemed that by July 2011 the France international was ready to resume pre-season training.
An ankle injury sustained in the United States curtailed Ben Arfa’s hopes for the new Premier League season however, and it was autumn before he resumed first team duties. Since then the Frenchman has been gradually building up his fitness levels with a series of substitute appearances and the occasional place in the starting line-up.
While accepting that he is not quite there yet, a goal against Bolton Wanderers on Boxing Day suggested that the rehabilitation of Ben Arfa is almost complete. The only problem now rests with manager Alan Pardew, who must decide which position is best suited to exploiting his undeniable ability.
There is no doubting the Frenchman’s dribbling talent and he also boasts a deceptive change of pace over a few yards, but in several cameo roles lately, Ben Arfa has been caught in possession in susceptible areas in the middle of the park. For a player who seems to enjoy the thrill of making the killer pass or drifting past opposing players, it would seem his style of play would be more usefully employed further up the pitch.
Perhaps this was in the mind of Pardew when he declared that he would not be buying another striker in the January transfer window. The statement came hot off the heels of the collapse of a move for Sochaux marksman Modibo Maiga on medical grounds. With top scorer Demba Ba set to be absent on international duty for several weeks, it would, on the face of it, seem a strange decision by the Magpies manager.
Yet Pardew has always been convinced that Ben Arfa could be deployed ‘in the hole’ behind a main striker, and the absence of Senegalese goalscorer Ba could provide an opportunity for the Frenchman to justify his manager’s faith. Newcastle will have Shola Ameobi, Leon Best and Peter Lovenkrands as backup strikers, but none have the genuine pace of a fully fit Ben Arfa.
It is conceivable that the enigmatic Amoebi will be used as the side’s main target-man with Ben Arfa foraging alongside him. This formation bears a similarity to those used successfully by former bosses Kevin Keegan and Sir Bobby Robson when Newcastle were known as ‘the entertainers’. During these spells, Andy Cole and Peter Beardsley were aped by Alan Shearer and Craig Bellamy.
Not that Ben Arfa can yet be compared with the likes of Beardsley and Bellamy, as the Clairefontaine youth product was not renowned as a marksman during his Marseille days. What is clear though, from his chequered Magpies career to date, is that the Frenchman favours the direct approach to goal demonstrated so vividly by his illustrious predecessors. It is easy to argue that his maverick style of play and imagination in and around the penalty area has been a missing ingredient from the Newcastle side for many years.
Such talent provoked Pardew into making the permanent £5M signing of Ben Arfa one of his first tasks during the 2011 January transfer window, despite knowing that he would be unable to call upon the former Lyon schemer’s services for the remainder of that season.
It is a talent that Newcastle will now depend on given that defensive lynchpin Steven Taylor has had surgery to repair a ruptured Achilles tendon, and Pardew needs a replacement centre back as a priority signing, which will come at the expense of a new striker.
With Ba adequately replacing Andy Carroll in the lead role in Newcastle’s striking department, Pardew will look to Ben Arfa to provide that extra piece of flair up front in his absence. Should the 24-year-old prove capable of fulfilling his manager’s needs, then Ba’s return will create an interesting scenario for Pardew.
A successful Ba and Ben Arfa striking duo would remove the clouds inherent from the 2011 summer transfer window, when the Newcastle manager was widely criticised for failing to sign a quality striker. Many players were then suggested, but none deemed suitable by the former West Ham United boss.
Assuming Ba returns unscathed from the African Nations Cup, Pardew may soon have a strike partnership costing a fraction of the £35M fee the Magpies received one year ago from selling Andy Carroll to Liverpool. For Ben Arfa, this would surely be the crowning moment in his long recovery from injury.
