Some Newcastle United fans on social media raved about Hatem Ben Arfa and expressed their admiration for him after he dazzled in the Europa League for Rennes.
The ex-Magpies star came on as sub and scored a last-minute winner from the penalty spot in order for the Ligue 1 side to defeat Jablonec 2-1 in the Europa League on Thursday.
Ben Arfa was making his debut for Rennes after joining them at the start of the September and his latest match was his first in 18 months after not featuring at all for Paris St Germain last season.
The 31-year-old winger’s last-minute winner had Magpies fans buzzing on Twitter as one claimed he was the most exciting player ever seen at St James Park, while another claimed that if he joined the club today he’d still be the best player by a long way.
Nothing But Newcastle has rounded up some of the best tweets below:
https://twitter.com/TheLate212/status/1042853191484887040
https://twitter.com/Jaaack_NUFC/status/1042854699106553862
Would still be the best player in our team – by a long way
— Andrew Nelson (@AndrewN4nu) September 20, 2018
still love ‘im to bits me
— Jamie (@tyneassociation) September 20, 2018
Waisted talent right there.. will always love this guy
— Ant Harte (@anTOONy___) September 20, 2018
OPINION
Ben Arfa may have only had 25 minutes in order to show he still had bundles of talent on Thursday but he made the most of his minutes. The 31-year-old, who played 86 times for the Magpies, stole all the headlines as not only did he score the winning goal but he did it after not kicking a ball in a professional game for 18 months. That is an insanely long period to be without competitive football and it was amazing how he has managed to get himself back up to speed so quickly. Ben Arfa clearly is still loved by a section, at least, of Magpies supporters following his time with them and it seems everyone is rooting for him to do well. While one fan claims the winger would effectively walk into Rafa Benitez’s side, that may not be the case. Ben Arfa at times struggled with to unleash his exciting talents and was disappointing on several occasions for the Premier League club, there’s also the fact that his worrying injury record means that a manager like Benitez would not look to regularly use him or rely upon him.
