Ex-Newcastle and PSG bad boy Hatem Ben Arfa set to sign for Fiorentina on free transfer after leaving Rennes

FORMER Newcastle winger Hatem Ben Arfa is braced to join Franck Ribery at Fiorentina, according to reports.

The talented French forward has been on the lookout for a club since leaving Rennes in the summer.

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Ben Arfa, who has a bad boy reputation, revealed he has turned down multiple new ventures and compared football clubs to women.

Fenerbache, West Ham and Sampdoria have all been linked but none have "excited him."

Last month, the 32-year-old said on social media: "No challenge that has been proposed to me has excited me.

"It's like with a woman, if she does not excite you, let my brother down."

But that could all change as Tuttosport write how he has been approached by the Serie A side on a free transfer.

Fiorentina have raised eyebrows with their signings over the summer including Ribery, Kevin-Prince Boateng and Bobby Duncan from Liverpool.

There have never been question marks over Ben Arfa's ability but he has endured a chequered career.

During his time at Lyon he fell out with Karim Benzema and had a training ground scuffle with former Arsenal defender Sebastian Squillaci.

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Then at Marseille he had a strained relationship with Didier Deschamps before the same thing happened at Newcastle under Alan Pardew.

His career has also taken him to Hull, Nice and Paris Saint-Germain and it was at the latter where he had a similar story.

Ben Arfa was frozen out at the club after joking to the Emir of Qatar that the PSG club president was difficult to get hold of.