10 Great Players Who Were Ruined By Newcastle United

3. Hatem Ben Arfa

Lazy. Lethargic. Overweight. These were some of the adjectives that Newcastle fans and more significantly Alan Pardew decided to use about Hatem Ben Arfa rather than magician, brilliant, skilful and perhaps a little overweight. For some reason, the Frenchman was left out of the first team on a number of occasions and despite making 72 appearances for the Magpies, he should have been given more creative freedom. Ben Arfa played under the wrong boss at the wrong time and although becoming a fan favourite in many fans' eyes, he should have been managed a lot better. Newcastle sent the player to Hull on loan in 2014 before releasing him on a free in January 2015. He moved to Nice at the beginning of the 2015-16 season and has scored seven goals in nine games.