Nigel De Jong to potentially pay huge fine for reckless tackle
Manchester City’s defensive midfielder, Nigel De Jong may soon find himself around five million pounds poorer, if Marseille manage to successfully sue the Dutch defensive midfielder. Hatem Ben Arfa who suffered a leg break at the
hands of a very reckless and rather violent tackle by De Jong, is still owned by the French outfit Marseille despite the fact that he is playing for Newcastle United on loan this season.
The French team are looking to get five million pounds of the player as part of the loan agreement, it was stated that if Ben Arfa was to make around twenty five appearances for the side, then the English team would pay Marseille
an extra five million. With the player having been ruled out for most of the season as a result of the horrific tackle, it is highly unlikely and close to impossible for him to make those appearances.
So far Ben Arfa has played in only four games and is currently ruled out till March, which means that at the most the twenty three year old would only be able to make another eleven appearances for the team.
However despite this fact, it is being tipped, in this case, that Marseille are taking to the court might fall flat on its back; there is only one simple reason for this, that reason is the fact that the match official at that
time saw nothing wrong with the tackle when it happened and didn’t even stop the game to award Newcastle a free-kick. In fact upon closer replays it was shown, that the only reason that Ben Arfa suffered such a tragedy was because of the fact that his trailing
leg got caught up in the grass. That is something that De Jong could have done nothing about to avoid, which is why he could plead a very strong not guilty case in court.
De Jong however has not been spared by everyone, the national team coach for Holland has indefinitely banned the holding midfielder from the national side, till he manages to get his tackling in check. It seems rather contradictory
that the coach would do such a thing, since in the FIFA World Cup final, the player was caught to be super-kicking, Spain’s Xabi Alonso square in the chest, but there was no action taken by the coach then, so why is it that he wishes to place such a harsh
fate on the player now, when it clearly wasn’t his fault?
De Jong’s tackle may have been harsh, but it was timed perfectly and his trailing leg is what caught Ben Arfa’s standing leg, which led to the player’s leg breaking in two areas. De Jong has also admitted that he is deeply sorry
for what has happened. Which leads us to believe is it time that we start to cut players some slack when it is deserved? Or do we continue to put them through some ludicrous and rather irrational trials, just because the interest of a team was altered as a
result of the player’s actions?
That being said, it is now for the footballing court to decide if De Jong will be made to pay such a hefty fine; that is of course if Marseille decide to follow through with their rather bizarre appeal.
Tags: