Deschamps had turned sour and was beyond repair. Ben Arfa confirmed his intentions by travelling to Newcastle upon Tyne, without authorization, with hopes that Newcastle and Marseille would come to an agreement. After returning to Marseille, he missed several training sessions with his parent club and was, subsequently, left off the match day squad for two league matches against Valenciennes and Lorient. Ben Arfa's number 10 was later given to new signing André-Pierre Gignac, which signaled a transfer was imminent. On 19 August, a proposed move to Werder Bremen failed to come to fruition after the club's sporting director Klaus Allofs declared that the club was not interested in Ben Arfa, despite reports of Werder Bremen offering Marseille a transfer fee of €8 million. On 27 August, Dassier confirmed that the club had reached an agreement on a loan fee with Newcastle for the transfer of Ben Arfa with personal terms being the only stumbling block in the deal. Marseille agreed to a £2 million loan fee. Newcastle had been set to pay Marseille another £5 million if Ben Arfa had made 25 club appearances in the 2010–11 season, which would have made the transfer permanent. Newcastle United On 27 August 2010, Ben Arfa agreed to personal terms with Newcastle and, the following day, the club confirmed that it had signed Ben Arfa on a season-long loan. He made his debut on 11 September 2010, appearing as a substitute in a 2–0 defeat at home to Blackpool. He scored his first goal for Newcastle on his full debut on 18 September in the 1–0 victory against Everton. On 3 October, Ben Arfa suffered a broken tibia and fibula in his left leg while playing in a league match against Manchester City. The injury came as a result of a tackle by opposing midfielder Nigel de Jong. On 5 January 2011, Marseille and Newcastle both confirmed on their websites that they had reached an agreement for the permanent transfer of Ben Arfa to Newcastle with the player agreeing to a four and a half year contract. The transfer fee was undisclosed. Ben Arfa spent most of his rehabilitation in his home city of Paris recuperating at the Clairefontaine academy. On 23 February, Newcastle manager Alan Pardew confirmed that Ben Arfa was running and could return to the team in April. However, days later, Pardew revealed that he was not prepared to