De Jong proud to be playing for Holland

Nigel De Jong is pleased to have returned to the Holland squad after an exile following his tackle on Newcastle United’s Hatem Ben Arfa. The Dutch national manager Bert Van Marwijk took action at that point against the 26 year old, stating that he had “a problem with the way Nigel needlessly looks to push the limit.”

However Van Marwijk has brought De Jong back into the fold for their friendly against Australia in February and the player is delighted to be back, whilst also claiming that his tackle on Ben Arfa was never intended to hurt him.

“It was never my intention to hurt Ben Arfa and especially to injure him,” De Jong told Manchester City’s official club magazine, “There’s been lots of talk about the situation with the national team and three months have passed since I was left out of the qualifiers. Obviously, I never gave up on the chance of representing my country again and never would because I’m very proud to play for Holland.”

Meanwhile Ben Arfa hopes to be back playing by March – following secret surgery to save his career.

Complications forced his advisors to ask Paris St Germain’s doctor to operate again a month later.

Dr Eric Rolland said, “He had a problem area which could have become infected and prevented his broken bones from knitting together once more. It had to be sorted out urgently. His recovery is on schedule.”