Hatem Ben Arfa is Also Ready to Commit His Future to Lyon
By: Inara | March 21st, 2008
Now that Karim Benzema and Jeremy Toulalan have extended their contracts, Jean-Michel Aulas is turning his attention to another one of Lyon’s young talents.
Hatem Ben Arfa has endured a tough couple of weeks since being relegated to the bench. Perrin wasn’t impressed with his technically wasteful (aka selfish) performances in the last two months.
Ben Arfa on the other hand is sad about being benched and keeps insisting that he needs to be himself, whatever that means. But he did promise to keep improving and earn back his starting place.
There is a great deal of friction between Ben Arfa, Benzema, and Perrin, but thankfully, Ben Arfa’s in advanced talks with Aulas to extend his contract. He’s happy to progress at Lyon and intends to remain, even though he is currently being coveted by the likes of Barcelona and Manchester United, as well as Tottenham and Roma (question: Tottenham have been after Ben Arfa for what, three years now? Amazing.).
All credit to Ben Arfa, who is taking his current circumstances with grace and not threatening to leave (he’s no Giovanni dos Santos, that’s for sure). For all of his immaturity on the pitch, off the pitch, he’s more mature than his frienemy Benzema, who gets all huffy after one game when things don’t go his way. Unlike a lot of players, Ben Arfa has yet to say anything negative about his coaches or his teammates, nor has he given Lyon an ultimatum of “play me or I’ll leave.”
I’m going to cross my fingers that Ben Arfa’s contract extension goes without a hitch, and I’ll also be hoping that he regains Perrin’s confidence. I’d love to see him end the season on a high note so that he can snag a place on France’s squad for Euro 2008.
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Comments
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It seems to me that for all Benzema’s level headed talk in the press, Ben Arfa is the more mature of the two. Benzema does not handle being played out position well and he has a problem with being substituted for tactical reasons, which is sad.
Ben Arfa has not been as angry about his benching as I expected, I though a come and get me plea would be filtered to the press eventually. Signing a new contract means he understands that for all his recent success he still has alot to learn, and even his spot at Lyon/ France NT is not guarenteed without hardwork and application. Lets hope the two also patch up whatever beef they have with each other, because it affects their interplay on the field.
Posted from
United States
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Great blog! I’ve been lurking on this website for months but this is the first time I’m posting. This blog is funny, articulate and full of information and analysis as well as a good dose of humor. Thanks for doing a great job on keeping us updated on Lyon!
On topic: I’m actually a little bit surprised that Ben Arfa is willing to stay. Benzema is progressing at Lyon a lot so it makes sense he’d stay, but Ben Arfa hasn’t improved a lot this season, and he said before that his biggest concern was his continued progress. I expected him to go somewhere better for his development.
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United States -
Call me crazy but as much as I like benzem and nasri and think they’ll have great futures and stuff. All this about how level headed they are is maybe starting to go up to their heads. Nasri is refusing to sign and Benzema was pouting. In the meantime, the man everyone calls the little bitch because he’s selfish and all doesn’t peep a word when his coach humiliates him and says he’s not serious at practice and so on. So much so that i belived he would be leaving. maybe being in the reality show and under the public eye makes him handle criticism a little better.
Just a hats off to him for handling it very well.Posted from
France -
Hard time for Ben Arfa…
How can you fight with Sebastien Squillaci, probably the nicest Lyon player off the pitch ?Posted from
France -
I can’t believe it…
Did I jinx this?
edit: I hope that this incident is somewhat exaggerated (like I expect the Ziani-Gerets one was). If it had been so serious, we wouldn’t have found out four days later right before a crucial match against PSG, especially given the number of witnesses.
But if it was very serious…Aulas HATES player fighting. Didn’t he dismiss Pascal Olmeta in the nineties cause he hit another player, despite Olmeta being the captain? Or am I off base?
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United States -
In fighting (verbal and physical) occurs alot inside football clubs. Some, just this, is reported and the majority isn’t. However, of course with Ben Arfa already being in hot water. It kinda stuns ya.
Posted from
France -
I hope you’re right, Jao. I’m sure tensions are pretty high in the locker rooms, and it could just be something that happened in training that spilled over afterwards. Hopefully it’s just L’Equipe blowing up a small incident and trying to make it into a big deal (like they always do). Especially since Ben Arfa was interviewed two days later totally wanting to stay at Lyon longer.
And Perrin’s press conference didn’t indicate anything besides his usual attitude towards Ben Arfa (google translated: “Hatem Ben Arfa? This is a player who has ups and downs in a season. It is currently less successful; there is too much waste in his game he has not made good entries against Bordeaux and Monaco, but he works well in training. He will come. It will be seen for Sunday depending on Govou, Keita, Delgado.”
Posted from
United States
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