Newcastle United news: Barcelona close in on deal for Ben Arfa, Wales call up defender, Shearer blasts hierarchy

Barcelona are closing in on a deal for former Newcastle United winger Hatem Ben Arfa.
Paul Dummett has been called up to a pre-Euro 2016 training campPaul Dummett has been called up to a pre-Euro 2016 training camp
Paul Dummett has been called up to a pre-Euro 2016 training camp

Ben Arfa is at Barcelona's training ground for advanced talks as a move to the La Liga club edges closer.

Ben Arfa – who left Newcastle United in January last year by "mutual consent" – has been in sensational form for French club Nice this season after returning from an enforced six-month sabbatical from the game after a loan at Hull City was cut short.

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Click here for the full story:The France international – who held a first round of talks with the Nou Camp club earlier this month – is reportedly at Barcelona's training ground.

Ben Arfa, however, insisted at the weekend that he hadn't yet made a decision on his future.

Meanwhile, left-back Paul Dummett has been included in a Wales training camp ahead of Euro 2016.

The training camp will be held in Portugal from May 23.

Coleman will name the 23 players who will represent Wales at Euro 2016 on 31 May before playing Sweden in Stockholm on 5 June for an international friendly.

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The squad will then leave immediately for its Team Base Camp in Dinard, Brittany, where they will prepare for their opening game of the tournament against Slovakia in Bordeaux on 11 June.

Click here for the full story:And finally, club legend Alan Shearer has blasted Newcastle United in his column for the Sun newspaper.

Shearer says Newcastle United's hierarchy will "only have themselves to blame" if the club is relegated.

Sunderland will send the club down on Wednesday night if they beat Everton at the Stadium of Light

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Shearer wrote: "It looks highly unlikely that Newcastle will survive now, and the club will only have themselves to blame.

"For they have made exactly the same mistake as seven years ago by not giving the new man enough time.

"In 2009, I was made manager with just eight games to go.