Alan Pardew is proud to have signed Hatem Ben Arfa for Newcastle United.

The decision was one of Pardew's first in the job as Newcastle United boss after the Magpies negotiated a fee of £5.2million to make his move to Tyneside a permanent deal following his initial loan switch from Marseille.

He told the Evening Chronicle: "He was my first signing here.

"I watched the video at Everton when he scored that goal and said to Mike Ashley: 'Sign him immediately'.

"I had not seen much of Newcastle before. However, that was my gut feeling about him. To get a player like that for the value we were getting him for was a no-brainer.

"The only downside to that has been the games he has missed.

"I really like working with him. He is interesting and I like interesting people.

"He is different to Joey Barton and has different sorts of problems but he is up there."