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Alan Pardew does not believe losing Hatem Ben Arfa and Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa on deadline day will affect Newcastle United this season.

Speaking for the first time since the window slammed shut at the end of last month Pardew insisted Newcastle have thrived to replace the pair with better players.

Ben Arfa was loaned to Hull City while Yanga-Mbiwa signed for AS Roma until the end of the season and Pardew pointed to their previous performance.

When it was suggested their departures would not affect Newcastle too much, he said today: “Correct.

“And their record suggests were they going to feature this year?”

Pardew was also asked if he felt sorry for fans who were deeply disappointed by Ben Arfa’s exit.

He said: ”Of course, but we’ve tried to replace with better.”

Ben Arfa wrote an open letter to the Toon Army after being let go stating he thanked everybody at the club for making the move to the Tigers possible.

Pardew said: “That’s a decision he made with his PR company, I think as far as we’re concerned what’s important with the players here is that they represent the jersey with honesty and truth and love, that’s all we concentrate on, the players we have here.”

When asked to explain his thinking behind the club’s decision to relegate Ben Arfa to the reserves, Pardew said: “The thinking behind that was to get a squad we thought was good enough to go forward and we think we’ve got that.”

And he stated that Ben Arfa and Yanga-Mbiwa were simply not in his plans.

He added: “Correct.

“The situation we have here is a tight group who are working very hard to take the club forward.”