According to the Daily Mercato, Claude Puel will try to bring Hatem Ben Arfa to Southampton if he is announced as the club’s new manager.

Puel is heavily expected to be announced as Southampton manager by the end of this week, having staved off competition from a number of managerial candidates for the job.

The likes of Rudi Garcia, Manuel Pellegrini and Vitor Periera were also in the running, but Puel now looks all set to take over the reigns from Ronald Koeman – who joined Everton earlier this month.

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Now, the report says that if Puel was to come in, he would like to bring Ben Arfa over from France with him.

Puel signed Ben Arfa for Nice and turned his career back the right way. It looked like his career was fading away when he joined the French side, but he went on to scored 18 goals for Nice last season under Puel’s tutelage.

There is, however, serious interest from Sevilla as well, who are thought to have offered him a three-year contract.

Puel has already asked Southampton to begin talks with Ben Arfa, as the player is open to the move due to his strong relationship with the French manager. Ben Arfa is out of contract this summer, which means Southampton would not have to pay a fee to Nice.