Regarding the attitude problems in the past, some people take consideration to Ben Arfa's age. He is only 23 years old, and some people just need some time growing up. Rooney, Smith, Cantona where all to some extent considered as trouble makers when we signed them. I don't think any of them has acted badly after joining us... When retired players are asked of what Fergusons main strength is, a lot of them answers that his man to man mangment are examplarary. I think Ferguson are better at handeling trouble makers than anyone else, and I think he is better at developing players than anyone else in the game as well. I am sure he can get the best out of Ben Arfa, and if he can, we will have a very solid left winger in him. Raymond Dominech opted to chose him above Samir Nasri whom are staying at home, I rate Nasri as a solid player, and I think that says something about Ben Arfa’s strengths. If the question is Ben Arfa for less than £10m and Angel di Maria for over £30m… Ben Arfa is likely to be the better option.
Playing for Lyon and playing for United is two completely different contexts.
As a young "super-talent" whom he was a couple of years ago - you get a incredible high status in a club like Lyon. There are so many clubs that are bigger than Lyon, and if you want to become the best you have to play with and against the best - you cannot do that in France. Top clubs in Spain, Italy or England can always provide something that others can't. Look at Essien - he "went on strike" to leave for Chelsea. Benzema and Ben Arfa got into a argument as following of this, they were the two biggest talents in Lyon, arguably even all of France at the time. Media made a lot of noise of this - to me, Ben Arfa seems to been made a bit of the bad guy, while Benzema has gotten very little criticism of the same argument, that might have been what made Lyon sell Ben Arfa. But there are always two sides of a argument, perhaps Benzema was the worst of the two, being a huge central forward talent is worth more than a winger and therefor Benzema got his way. While Benzema has disappointed in Real Madrid this season, Ben Arfa has been brilliant since he left for Marseilles, being a part of a team that has done better than Lyon domestically for two years in a row and a key man to this seasons ligue 1 title. To my knowledge, there has been no controversy what so ever considering Ben Arfa since he joined Marseilles.
In Manchester United, Ben Arfa will have reached the top of his career. He cannot possibly go any further in terms of clubs, and I think he realizes that he simply cannot have the same status that he had in Lyon or Marseilles. And as I said, to my knowledge there have been no problems with Ben Arfa in Marseilles? We really should not judge to hard based on events that happened over 2 years ago regarding a 21 year old rising into stardom, he probably had a bit of a identity crisis back then, and as I said there are always two sides in a argument, the media might have got it wrong. At 23 year old, he will probably improve further the next couple of years. I think Ferguson is the man who can take him to new hights, he is rather experienced for such a young age, and he clearly has the physical abilities, he has pace, technique and good crosses, good enough to join the squad of one of the favorites to the world cup? I think he could be a bargain, especially if he costs only £8m.
