8 Newcastle Stars Who've Played Their Last Game For The Magpies

2. Hatem Ben Arfa

For a majority of Newcastle supporters the blame for Ben Arfa's nosedive at St James' Park lies squarely in the lap of Alan Pardew. Read our slant on the erstwhile France international's conflict with the Magpies boss and the various explanations behind the dramatic breakdown in their once close relationship. What we can be certain of is that an uninspiring cameo in a 1-0 defeat at Stoke back in April will be marked down in history as the final time Ben Arfa pulled a Newcastle shirt over his ample mid-section. Banished to train with the youth squad by Pardew after their crossing of swords, there is little hope of the mercurial playmaker salvaging his career on Tyneside and we should probably brace ourselves for his inevitable departure. Remarkably, however, Ben Arfa continued to earn the praise of Yohan Cabaye in the Guardian recently with the ex-Newcastle midfielder believing him to be an "extraordinary player with enormous quality and even one of the" highest quality players" he'd ever shared a dressing room with. And if that isn't enough to convince a stubborn Pardew that it's worth attempting to rehabilitate Ben Arfa then we're out of ideas. There has even been talk of the former Marseille attacker being sold on the cheap.