Ben Arfa close to Toon return

The France international has been out of action since October after suffering a double fracture of his left leg following a tackle by Manchester City midfielder Nigel de Jong. Ben Arfa, who joined the Toon on a permanent basis from Marseille earlier this month, was initially ruled out for the rest of the season. But the 23-year-old's agent, Simon Stainrod, says he is now just weeks away from a surprise return. "I saw him last week and Hatem is absolutely flying," Stainrod said in the Daily Star. "He's been away to Dubai for a bit of warm weather training and now he's back in France and training really, really hard. "There are no miracles with an injury like his and he knows it is hard work that he needs to do, but he's as fit as a fiddle."