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Journalist
Graduated from Journalism School in Paris. Specializing in football, and more particularly on the transfer window. Fan of PSG and Stade Français.
Long considered a real crack and a great hope of French football, Hatem Ben Arfa had nevertheless experienced a rather complicated divorce with the management of OL, in 2008. And while OM finally recruited him for €12 million that summer, the plan was initially to release him to ASSE… Explanations.
Launched into the deep end of the professional world in 2004, Hatem Ben Arfa was full of great promise at that time. Pure product from the training center ofOLthe striker was promised a great career, but things did not necessarily go as planned for the native of Clamart. Relations with Lyon management became strained over the years, reaching a point of no return in 2008. Date on which Ben Arfa left the club.
Transfer for €12M to OM
That summer, it was ultimately OM who managed to complete the transfer ofHatem Ben Arfa for €12 million. The Marseille club hoped to be able to allow the young phenomenon to finally express all his potential, but again, nothing happened as planned. Between lackluster sporting performances and major internal relational problems, Ben Arfa didn’t last longOM. And its trajectory could have been very different…
Ben Arfa had to sign for ASSE!
Former physical trainer of Ben Arfa, Fabian Richard spoke into the microphone RMC Sport. And to everyone’s surprise, he announces that theOL initially wanted to sell it not to theOM… but at theASSE : “ Hatem was in a complete hole, OL wanted to sell him for a handful of euros to the sworn enemy, Saint-Etienne. He was a very young player. He started working like crazy and I can tell you that Hatem, when he worked, he was a machine, really crazy. Like any player who works, not because of me but because of what he puts in place, he explodes: French team, departure for Marseille for 12 million euros. The adventure was launched “, he confided.
