Newcastle United signing Hatem Ben Arfa is confident of getting up-to-speed on his fitness.
Ben Arfa's last game was for France against Norway but he played throughout Marseille's pre-season and has told manager Chris Hughton he is ready to feature against Blackpool a week on Saturday.
"I wasn't training with Marseille but I hired a personal fitness trainer to make sure I didn't fall behind. I worked really, really hard to keep a level of fitness up," he said.
"The coaches at Newcastle have all been impressed by my level of fitness and have had no questions about it."
