Redknapp sets sights on high profile wing wizard.

Spurs and Portsmouth both want to sign Marseille's Hatem Ben Arfa who has fallen out with Didier Deschamps and his shiny black leather jacket. Ben Arfa has accused Deschamps of "breaking his balls". Deschamps says he didn't break his balls, they were already broken and actually he was only trying to fix them and he may have slightly chipped one while he was doing it but it's not his fault if his balls are actually quite badly made and frankly quite cheap in the first place.

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Seven stories from The Offside and World Cup Blog this week: Nominate your player/manager football ubermen Gigi's Buffon's incredible Champions League save Ballon d'Or or FIFA World Player of the Year: Which is shinier? Norwegian homage to Brazilian airport ad The return of Johan Cruyff. To Catalonia. Click to continue reading...

Come in number 11 Marseille youngster Hatem Ben Arfa had a nasty wardrobe malfunction at the weekend. Preparing to come on as a substitute, Ben Arfa stripped off his tracksuit to reveal that he was masquerading as team-mate Mamadou 'Pixie Lott' Niang. Cue much hilarity and a quick sprint for the kitman to reunite Ben Arfa with [. Click to continue reading...

[Spotted on l'OM Offside] Fantastique blog fodder from Marseille's favorite bench-riding l'enfant terrible Hatem Ben Arfa, who had a slight wardrobe malfunction this weekend. Summoned to enter a losing cause, Hatem whipped off his tracksuit to unsuspectingly unveil a #11 Mamadou Niang kit adorning his back. Click to continue reading...

With World Cup qualifiers about to take place, there isn't too much happening at club level. But there are a few articles and updates that caught my eye.

The biggest news is the medical update on Bafetimbi Gomis. Two days ago at Guingamp, Gomis collapsed during practice with the France squad.

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Real Madrid spent plenty of money in the summer to rejuvenate their faltering team. After falling way short of eventual Spanish and European Champions Barcelona last season Los Merengues forked out huge transfer fees on the likes of Ballon d'Or winners Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka, while Karim Benzema and Xabi Alonso also completed big moves to the Spanish capital.

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Lyon Can Finally Fly Straight Again: OL's New Winger Swoops into Town, Hopefully to Take Us to New Heights.
No, it's not a Ferrari nor Beluga caviar, it's a Brazilian winger. Like and injured bird, OL's left wing- along with a slew of other issues- hindered it's abilitiy to fly as strong as it was capable of, but now it's finally healed, stronger than ever, and ready for lift-off.

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Don't hold-it against me. After all, it's Real Madrid!

First Juni, then Michael Jackson, now this!!! This is honestly too much too much loss for a human being to be subjected to in the span of a couple of months. In case you've been living on the moon these last few days, Karim Benzema has left Lyon!

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"I am not the coach but it's true that with all those changes we sometimes find it difficult to get our bearings... It would be a catastrophe of the prospect of Lyon not winning an eighth consecutive title."

Those words, by Lyon ace Karim Benzema, adequately describe the club's state of mind.

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"I'm an honest man and you've got to say that Marseille and Bordeaux have worked well these past two seasons. This year maybe they deserve to go all the way..."

Those truly sincere words were uttered by Lyon's Juninho following the team's 2-2 draw last weekend which saw the seven consecutive domestic champions lose top spot since week 4 of the Ligue 1.

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As France face losing Zidane#8217;s son to Spain, OTP looks at the long list of those touted as Zizou#8217;s successors 1. Samir Nasri Skillful attack-minded midfielder born in Marseille to a family of Algerian descent - it is not hard to see where the comparisons have come from. Has not had an outstanding first season at Arsenal, [. Click to continue reading...

Hatem Ben Arfa is as contemptible as he is talented - and he#8217;s quite talented. In the dying moments of last night#8217;s draw in Amsterdam he was hit by Bruno Silva somewhere in the upper chest/throat. Fine enough, that#8217;s a foul. But he didn#8217;t go down right away. He felt his throat, looked up for [. Click to continue reading...

In Off The Post Both Posts French teams have been scoring some great free-kicks in Europe this week. And Hatem Ben Arfa's 35-yard strike for Marseille against Steve McClaren's FC Twente was no exception. The ball hit both posts before eventually nestling in the net. For those of you who like your violence as much as your [. Click to continue reading...

Interesting quote last week from Atletico Madrid goalkeeper Gregory Coupet, on why he left Lyon for Madrid: "I felt there was too large of a gap between myself and the young players of OL. So much so, that I didn't see anything of myself in the new generation. That to me is harder and harder to [...] Click to continue reading...

I have a very low tolerence for "Diva-ish" behavior, no matter how talented a player may be. And as much as I dislike both of these immensly talented players, I decided to write a post because their fates may be intertwined- although higly unlikely- and I wouldn't mind seeing both of them possibly doing OL a big favor in the future, by negatively affecting the current #2 team in L1, Marseille.

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Let's say you're a talented player with a history of conflict with teammates and a reputation for having a bit of an attitude. You are left out of the starting lineup despite having scored in the past three games. Do you: A) Do everything you can to show by your behavior that you [...] Click to continue reading...

It must have been quite a reunion for the 2Bs.

Oops, how did this picture get in here?

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Marseille boss Erik Gerets has likened Champions League opponents Liverpool to Duracell bunnies because they can run forever.
The Belgian, who has twice plotted victories over the Reds in Europe, first for Galatasaray and then in Marseille's win at Anfield last season, admits to being concerned about the level of form the five-time European Cup winners achieved in beating the current champions on Saturday. Click to continue reading...

Hatem ben Arfa is out of the upcoming qualifiers with continuing issues with his adducteurs. He's been replaced by Jimmy Briand of Rennes -- another player I'd like to see get a cap eventually. The really bad news for Hatem is that the injury is looking like more Click to continue reading...

Samir Nasri has been ruled out of France's friendly with Sweden on Wednesday because of a thigh strain. The Arsenal midfielder was called into Les Bleus' squad on Monday following the withdrawal of winger Hatem Ben Arfa, who injured his adductors at the weekend. But Nasri will not board Tuesday's flight to Gothenburg, the French Football [. Click to continue reading...

First thing: Check out this beauty of an assist that Hatem ben Arfa pulled off for Marseille in Champions League last week.

Second thing: Hatem is out and Samir Nasri is in for France's game against Sweden on Wednesday.

What do you think is there intrigue here, or just one player coming and one going?

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Impressive midfielder Samir Nasri has been called up to the France squad set to face Sweden after Marseille winger Hatem Ben Arfa pulled out due to injury. The 21-year-old former Marseille star scored a goal on his debut against West Brom on Saturday and will be hoping to carry his club form onto country. Click to continue reading...

Self-explanatory, eh? Adrian Mutu: Fiorentina v Slavia. Christian Pander: Schalke v Atletico. Alessandro Del Piero: Juventus v Artmedia. Hatem Ben Arfa & Benoit Cheyrou: Marseille v Brann. Simao: Panathinaikos v Sparta. Goal of the Matchday? ( polls) Thanks to 101GreatGoals.com for the vids. Click to continue reading...

Les Bleus will be traveling to Sweden for a friendly on August 20th, a game which will hopefully get the team ready for the World Cup qualifiers that will be starting soon.

There a lot of old faces on the squad, but there are also some players missing, including Franck Ribery and Francois Clerc, who are out injured, and Samir Nasri and Eric Abidal, who were dropped entirely.

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This is the year Lyon is supposed to go down, with Bordeaux and Marseille lining up as the hopeful victors. Well, if Marseille ends up winning they'll be doing so in one of the worst kits in history. Somebody - Helen Keller maybe? - has decided that a good choice of fashion this year would [...] Click to continue reading...

Lyon's backline patrolman Cris has given a candid interview about former teammate Hatem Ben Arfa. Even though Inara wrote an excellent "cathartic" piece on HBA's departure and most of us have closed the file on Hatem's Lyon career, I thought this would be of interest.

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Euros are over. Moving forward. (Again. It's hard to forget something like that, isn't it?) But let's take a look at how the transfer season is going.

First, Samir Nasri is a Gunner at last! We all knew it was going to happen, right? And then it didn't. And didn't. And didn't.

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Nothing major to report on the transfer front. Most of the info from Inara's last transfer post is still up to date. Here's the latest:

OUT:

Gregory Coupet: Greg's transfer to Atletico Madrid has been finalized.

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Disclaimer: I know that it's been a week now since Hatem Ben Arfa left Lyon for Marseille. Both John and Magnusson have covered this topic very thoroughly, so most of you are probably tired of hearing about it.

But I just can't let this go.

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So this is the table so far at the end of the year I will post the final table so you can compare, not many English Premier League teams in it so far!
No. Player's Name Pos From To Fee
1. Daniel Alves (Bra) RB Sevilla (Spa) Barcelona (Spa) £25. Click to continue reading...

The summer isn't all about transfer rumours you know. Sometimes there are actual signings too. And to prove it here are some photos of famous footballers smiling and holding up shirts with their names on... - The big transfer saga of the French summer is over, with talented but bratty midfielder Hatem Ben Arfa(above) swapping [. Click to continue reading...

All signs were pointing toward Hatem Ben Arfa joining Olympique de Marseille in Le Championnat. L'OM even announced the highly publicized move on their official website. Not so fast. Olympique Lyon have since said that move is not going to... Click to continue reading...

All signs were pointing toward Hatem Ben Arfa joining Olympique de Marseille in Le Championnat. L'OM even announced the highly publicized move on their official website. Not so fast. Olympique Lyon have since said that move is not going to... Click to continue reading...

Marseille are looking to seal a €12million (£9.5million) deal for a Lyon star who was heralded as the future of French football, along with team-mate Karim Benzema, only 4 months ago. Reports suggested that Premiership teams like Arsenal, Tottenham and Manchester United had been tracking the player, but with this "sideways" move to Marseille on [. Click to continue reading...

As most of us already know, Hatem Ben Arfa has come to terms with Olympique de Marseille and for some of us, our worst fears have finally been realized. Like an amorous relationship you know just has to end, as much as it may hurt, you know it's for the best. But HBA's departure still stings, and leaves me with an empty feeling in the pit of my stomach, necessary as it may be.

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