Hatem Ben Arfa Looking to Move away from Marseille

Olympique Marseille winger Hatem Ben Arfa is now reportedly planning to leave the French club to join somewhere else. Reports available in the media suggest that a host of clubs including Everton, Newcastle United, Werder Bremen, AC Milan, Wolfsburg and Galatasaray are keen to secure his service.

The France international has spent two successful seasons with Marseille since his move from Lyon in 2008. Hatem Ben Arfa has represented Marseille in 86 matches in all competition and scored 13 goals. However, the 23-year-old is yet to secure a regular place in France national team.

Naturally, the left winger is now looking for a bigger challenge. His agent Michael Ouazine has also said that his client could leave Marseille only on sporting ground, nothing else. The most important thing is that Ben Arfa has been out of favor of Marseille coach Didier Deschamps.

Newcastle United, the newly promoted premier league club, is all set to talk to Marseille over a possible deal for Hatem Ben Arfa. Everton boss David Moyes is also keen to sign the player who would command a fee around £5 million.

At the moment, these two Premier League sides are ahead in the race to secure his service. However, the clubs like AC Milan, Werder Bremen and Wolfsburg could also sign Hatem Ben Arfa by making a surprise offer in the last minute.

Liverpool Confident ahead of Olympique Marseille Encounter, despite Torres Injury

Following the morale-booster victory over Manchester United at home last night, Liverpool is confident ahead of their opening match of Champions League 2008-09 away at Olympique Marseille on Tuesday. However, the premier league giants are worried about the fitness of the two key players: Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard. Captain Gerrard came on as a substitute in the second half of their 2-1 victory against Manchester United after recovering from a groin injury that kept him out of England’s opening two world cup qualifiers.

However, Liverpool’s Spanish striker Fernando Torres was left in the sideline with hamstring injury and he is still doubtful for Liverpool’s upcoming Europe fixture. Torres, the highest goal scorer of Liverpool last season, picked up the hamstring injury during the match against Aston Villa on August 31 and since then he has been sidelined. However, one thing is for sure that Liverpool is now full of confident after clinching their first premier league victory over big rivals Manchester United in seven years.

Manager Rafael Benitez also expressed that Liverpool would travel to France with good frame of mind. He added that Liverpool would go into the Champions League in good heart and spirit. So, it is pretty clear that the whole team is now full of confident. So, I do not think that Torres’s injury would be a big problem for Liverpool while taking on Marseille, given the fact that they pulled off the victory over Manchester United without needing any significant contribution from Gerrard and Torres.

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Reuters