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Hatem Ben Arfa (still a free agent)


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52 minutes ago, ManDoon said:

Yeah I love Fraser’s work ethic can’t deny the guy, he really does work hard but he’s lost his legs and basically has nothing left. 

Still seems to have the initial burst, just can't sustain it. Coming off the bench against tired defenders would make him more effective. And his workrate will help close games out. 

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4 hours ago, Mr Raspberry Jam said:

 

Ffs. 

He is Messi levels, ability wise, flair, speed of feet, tricks, ability to dance past players without needing speed, but can also do that too and his quick brain thinking. If he had the right mentality, attitude, professionalism, he would have been up there the last decade or so as one of the best players in the world, elite level. 

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3 minutes ago, HTT II said:

He is Messi levels, ability wise, flair, speed of feet, tricks, ability to dance past players without needing speed, but can also do that too and his quick brain thinking. If he had the right mentality, attitude, professionalism, he would have been up there the last decade or so as one of the best players in the world, elite level. 

 

100%, in terms of natural talent he's up there with Messi, held back by his mentality. 

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24 minutes ago, HTT II said:

He is Messi levels, ability wise, flair, speed of feet, tricks, ability to dance past players without needing speed, but can also do that too and his quick brain thinking. If he had the right mentality, attitude, professionalism, he would have been up there the last decade or so as one of the best players in the world, elite level. 

 

I know what you're trying to get at. I loved Hatem just as much as the next man, but he wasn't as talented as Messi. Messi's ability is on another planet. 

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Just now, Mr Raspberry Jam said:

 

I know what you're trying to get at. I loved Hatem just as much as the next man, but he wasn't as talented as Messi. Messi's ability is on another planet. 

It is, but so was HBA’s and on his day it was in the level of Messi, for me anyway. 

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13 minutes ago, Lush Vlad said:

Fuck me. I thought I was the biggest HBA fanboy going. But as talented as Messi?! No way. 

Don’t confuse with as talented with as great which I think people whether they know it are not subconsciously do when it comes to any debate with Messi, Ronaldinho was as talented as Messi I mean FFS, Zidane too. HBA IMO was as talented as Messi. 

 

 

Edited by HTT II

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Would've loved to have seen him back here regardless of his current levels of performance; would've been joyful just seeing him beaming from the bench and in training photos n that. I think he would've enjoyed it as much as we would. But that clip has convinced me that he would've genuinely been useful too. 

 

Ah well, just wasn't to be with Hatem. Some terrific memories though; easily in my top few favourite ever players for Newcastle. Such a great player to watch when he was anywhere close to form; so graceful when moving with the ball and effortless in his passing and shooting. 

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56 minutes ago, HTT II said:

Don’t confuse with as talented with as great which I think people whether they know it are not subconsciously do when it comes to any debate with Messi, Ronaldinho was as talented as Messi I mean FFS, Zidane too. HBA IMO was as talented as Messi. 

 

 

 


No. I really don’t. I’m not suggesting you think he is as good as Messi. I know what you are saying and I still don’t agree. 
 

There are times when I saw HBA do stuff that only a handful of players in the world could do. But to compare him to the best player the world has ever seen and suggest they are naturally as talented is absurd, IMO. 

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3 minutes ago, Lush Vlad said:


No. I really don’t. I’m not suggesting you think he is as good as Messi. I know what you are saying and I still don’t agree. 
 

There are times when I saw HBA do stuff that only a handful of players in the world could do. But to compare him to the best player the world has ever seen and suggest they are naturally as talented is absurd, IMO. 

It’s really not, the difference is Messi has done it every game, every week, every year for over a decade, and that’s why he is the greatest. Again Ronaldinho was arguably more gifted individually and Zidane was of the same level, Messi is the greatest of all-time, but his ability alone hasn’t made him that, there are many players going back the full history of football with the same ability or similar and maybe even more ability. 

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So just mindset and working a bit harder makes the greats consistent? Not because they are just in fact, better players with more ability? Hence more consistent? 
 

I feel like I’m slating HBA. I’m really not. I’m just not having this Messi thing. But that’s fine. Can’t all agree. 

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Just now, Lush Vlad said:

So just mindset and working a bit harder makes the greats consistent? Not because they are just in fact, better players with more ability? Hence more consistent? 
 

I feel like I’m slating HBA. I’m really not. I’m just not having this Messi thing. But that’s fine. Can’t all agree. 

No, it’s a multitude of factors, if those factors were all applied to HBA with his ability, he’d have been of one the elite, best and greatest players we’d have ever seen. That was the level of his ability, that’s how good he could have been. As a comparison people say Gazza could have been one of the greatest players of all time and undoubtedly as talented as he was, his talent was a level or more below HBA’s. It’s all opinions of course and I’m happy to accept people may think I’m being OTT, but it’s not me being a fan boy of his, just a realisation of his extreme and rare talent that not many possess or ever will.

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The only Messi comparison I can accept is that he has comparable natural talent for dribbling. Anything beyond that is just feeding the people who think the HBA fanboys are off their tits I think.

 

 

Edited by Kid Icarus

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48 minutes ago, Bompeter said:

You wouldn’t know it from the comments in here now but he regularly got dog’s abuse from a pretty significant chunk of this forum who completely bought the Pardew line on him.

Played a blinder with him, didn’t he?

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I think the Messi debate is a bit of a red herring TBH and it always seems to happen when someone says ‘he was as talented as anyone’. It’s all debatable obviously but I think it’s enough to just say that he looked like he could more or less do anything he wanted at his best and that’s where the ‘as talented as anyone’ stuff comes from.

 

 

Edited by Dr Venkman

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https://theathletic.com/3090465/2022/01/26/pressure-paperwork-definitely-no-fax-machines-club-secretary-transfer-deadline-day/?article_source=search&search_query=philip buckingham

 

 

Uruguay international Abel Hernandez was signed from Palermo for a club-record £10 million and midfielder Mohamed Diame came from West Ham United for £4 million. Gaston Ramirez, loaned from Southampton, kept the recruitment drive going before a late opportunity presented itself to manager Steve Bruce.

Hatem Ben Arfa could leave Newcastle United on loan to a Premier League rival but only if he could drive from Tyneside to East Yorkshire in time.

“It was a really late deal,” says Wild, who has been with Wolves since 2017. “We were trying to get him down to do some sort of medical and he ended up getting lost.

 

Ben Arfa makes his debut against West Ham in September 2014 (Photo: Stu Forster/Getty Images)

“We needed to get an extension to register him. You had to submit a deal sheet by 11pm. I think it was 10.35pm and he was lost in York.

“We ended up finding a hotel for him in York and rang them up to say we’d have a player coming in, we needed them to receive a document and then fax it back with his signature.

“We had him running into a hotel to sign this deal sheet and then get down to Hull as quickly as he could to finish off the registration.”

Ben Arfa eventually made it to the club’s training ground beyond midnight to conclude a deal that still brings Wild out in a cold sweat.

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