Hatem Ben Arfa is one of the representatives of the famous generation of talented French football players whose career did not live up to the expectations of fans and the sports press and went according to a strange scenario. But unlike his “mates in misfortune,” which can be attributed with certainty to Marouan Chamakh, Sydney Govu and Loic Remy (although the latter somehow mysteriously got to Chelsea a couple of years ago, where they still don’t know how to get rid of him), Ben Arfa, apparently, is able to resume his real career and play in the style that everyone who expects him to pay big advances to a football player ten years ago is expected of him.
Why Ben Arfa could not stand on a par with Ronaldo and Messi?
In his youth, Hatem was many times stronger than his famous peers in the future, such as Karim Benzema, Samir Nasri and Olivier Giroud, however, as we all know, in youth people tend to make mistakes. Ben Arfa often quarreled with the leadership (he managed to quarrel even with Didier Deschamps), was lazy a lot, sometimes skipping training, did not take into account the opinions of people who wished him only good. As a result, there are constant transitions from club to club, a constant fall along the career ladder, and even a near-completion of a career.
It is worth saying that Ben Arfa is a football player whose career was constantly accompanied by injuries. In many ways, this justifies the problems of the Frenchman, since it is extremely difficult to play steadily at a high level, constantly getting into the infirmary. For example, playing for Newcastle, Hatem had to miss almost a season after a serious injury received in the first matches of the player in the English Premier League.
He began his professional career as an adult footballer Ben Arf in Lyon, where he received many compliments to his talent. However, after the problems mentioned above, they went to Marseille, Newcastle and Hull, where the footballer did not manage to play.
Where is Ben Arfa playing now?
No wonder you ask yourself this question. We answer: after an unsuccessful career stage at Newcastle and an even more unsuccessful rental at Hull, the player decided to return to France, where Nice sheltered him.
The club, frankly, is not the most prestigious, but plays in League 1, so for Ben Arfa (given his form after the Premier League) this option is very decent. Many believed that the athlete was going home just to finish the game, but it wasn’t there. In “Nice”, Hatem Ben Arfa began to create some unrealistic things. And this applies not only to goals that a Frenchman of Tunisian descent has already shot 11 (so many players in one season have not yet scored in their entire careers). The dribbling, which the player demonstrates, impresses not only the fans, but also the head coach of the French national team Didier Deschamps, who decided to forget all the quarrels that were between them in Marseille and invite him to the national team.
Will a footballer showing such a game remain in the French middle peasant?
Showing a fantastic game in the 2015/2016 season, Ben Arfa could not help but attract the attention of football clubs, which (with all due respect to “Nice”, which occupies the 3rd place in League 1), have the opportunity to constantly play in such European international tournaments as the Champions League and the Europa League. The first club to pay attention to Hatem Ben Arf was the Turkish Besiktas, which offered the player a contract in this winter transfer window. But “Nice” refused. However, the midfielder himself does not want to change the French championship to Turkish.
However, this is not the end of interest in Ben Arfa. The Italian "Milan", which, although it is not going through the best of times, but still remains one of the most prestigious football clubs in the world, also shows interest in the football player. Inter also wants to get a talented 28-year-old Frenchman. But most of the rumors unfold around the leader of League 1 Paris Saint-Germain, who plans to get Ben Arfa through the summer transfer window. The football player himself, commenting on the interest from PSG and other clubs, notes that after the current season he ends with a contract with Nice, and he does not exclude the transfer to another team. “If I get an offer, I’ll definitely consider it,” said the midfielder in an interview with one of the French football publications.
So what will happen to the career of such an unstable, but very gifted playmaker?
The answer to this question we can get at the end of the current championship of France. In summer, the contract of Hatem Ben Arfa ends, and who knows how a football player will prove himself in the second half of the season. Maybe he will be the best player of the season. Maybe it will decline. What now? Now Ben Arfa is out for one month due to an injury ...