Manchester United Show Interest In Highly Rated French Playmaker

Manchester United have shown interest in bringing Newcastle United’s highly rated midfielder Hatem Ben Arfa to Old Trafford. The skilfull playmaker has suffered two horrific long term injuries in the recent past and has not played many games under Alan Pardew, but could Ben Arfa be the answer to filling the void in Manchester United’s midfield?

Box to box midfielder Darren Fletcher has been recently confirmed as unavailable for the rest of the season due to a serious abdominal illness and budding England U-21 star Tom Cleverley has been hampered by injuries. The Red Devils only recognised fit central midfielders are Anderson and Micheal Carrick. Anderson has never really fulfilled his potential at Man United and Micheal Carrick is too defensive to be a solution for the creative spark that they currently lack.

Ferguson has tried to fill the gap left in midfield by playing summer signing Phil Jones in that role. Jones is a versatile defender who has started 4 games for them in midfield. The 19 year old also recently made his senior England debut in centre midfield. Veteran combative midfielder Paul Scholes who retired at the end of last season has been drafted in on loan for the rest of the season. The Man United legends’ services have been secured to bolster the strength of their midfield.

Ben Arfa is not a goal scoring midfielder but he does provide assists and could boost Manchester United’s attacking threat. The 24 year old Frenchman has only made 12 appearances since joining on a permanent deal in the summer from Marseille. Alex Ferguson will try to lure Ben Arfa to Manchester this January. He is expected to make a bid in the region of £9M for the ex Lyon playmaker.

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