Lille has entered into discussions with attacking midfielder Hatem Ben Arfa, free of any contract since leaving Bordeaux last summer, whom he is considering recruiting to strengthen his workforce, as announced by L’Équipe. The arrival of the 34-year-old French international would be conditional on the departure of the Turkish Yusuf Yazici, who could be loaned to CSKA Moscow (Russian D1) in the coming hours.
Ben Arfa knows the president of Losc, Olivier Létang, well, since the latter first attracted him to PSG in 2016 then to Rennes in 2018. He notably won the Coupe de France in 2019 with the Breton club, against PSG .
A six-month contract?
After a few months without a club, the player trained in Lyon joined Real Valladolid (Spanish D1) in January 2020, a club chaired by Ronaldo, but this escapade was cut short by the stoppage of the championship due to the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic. In October 2020, he bounced back to the Girondins, with whom he played 22 L1 games last season, scoring two goals and four assists.
According to L’Équipe, Ben Arfa, who has not played since May 2, 2021 but has trained almost daily with a physical trainer, would commit to the Mastiffs for six months, i.e. until the end of this season. .
His tenth club, the sixth in L1
Coming from the 87 generation, crowned European champion under 17 with Karim Benzema, Samir Nasri and Jérémy Menez, the left-hander, who has fifteen caps and two goals with the Blues, has had a rocky career, between incredible technical gestures, titles and disappointments.
If he signs in Lille, the native of Clamart (Hauts-de-Seine), passed by OL, OM, Newcastle, Hull, Nice, PSG, Rennes, Valladolid and Bordeaux, will thus know his tenth professional club , the sixth in Ligue 1, a championship where he started at only 17 years old, in 2004, under the orders of Paul Le Guen in Lyon.
Lille, reigning French champions, had a difficult start to the season but finished 2021 well, returning to the race for European places in the league and securing a historic qualification for the knockout stages of the Champions League, where he will challenge defending champions Chelsea in February and March.
