Liverpool weigh up Ben Arfa move
Wednesday, February 6, 2013 at 10:16 PM | by Jack Johnson 
Not perhaps the most likely source of gossip today, but the Guardian still has an interesting story that Liverpool are considering making a move for Hatem Ben Arfa.
The 25-year-old has a contract until 2015 so would command a rather substantial fee, but apparently Liverpool will fund the deal by offering Andy Carroll in exchange.
The England striker’s future seems remarkably unclear at the moment. His loan deal at West Ham expires in the summer and as he has only managed two goals for the Hammers this season it would be a surprise to see Sam Allardyce pay the reported £17m it would take to secure Carroll’s services permanently.
Newcastle on the other hand are keen on bringing back the big Geordie and with Ben Arfa seemingly unsettled, expressing his desire openly to move to PSG, then Alan Pardew may consider a player with Carroll’s attachment to the club a more valuable asset.
No fees are mentioned in the piece, but if a straight swap can be engineered then this will actually be a rather decent bit of negotiating from the Reds, something they hardly have a great track record of. Ben Arfa = good player and right now Carroll = not so good player, it’s rather simple. Yes the Englishman has certain useful qualities, and of course the ‘potential’ tag, but right now Ben Arfa would bring much more to Liverpool than a lumbering centre forward with a horrendous goalscoring record.
Jack Johnson
Reader Comments (3)
Pathetic fishing expedition based on nothing but piffle go get a proper story.
Absolutely stupid rumor. He's always crocked and we have better players already. Mike Ashley is behind this story because he wants to do a swap for carroll. I wouldn't even buy diamonds from the crook, they'd turn out to be Diamonique from QVC.
http://www.utd111.com/blog/2013/02/06/why-on-earth-would-hatem-ben-arfa-move-to-liverpool/