Hatem Ben Arfa

Born on 7 March 1987 in Clamart Ben Arfa is a graduate of the famous Clairefontaine academy, Ben Arfa formerly played for Olympique Lyonnais with whom he won four Ligue 1 titles. Early in his career at Lyon, he played as a centre forward, but moved into the winger role during the 2007–08 season. He now plays for French side Olympique de Marseille.

Ben Arfa began his career at Montrouge CF 92, a local club in the Parisian suburbs. There he was teammates with current Senegalese international Issiar Dia. In 1998, both players moved to prestigious sporting club AC Boulogne-Billencourt, where they trained for a year. In 1999, both Ben Arfa and Dia were selected to attend the Clairefontaine academy. While at Clairefontaine, Ben Arfa was a part of “A la Clairefontaine”, a documentary series by Bruno Sevaistre which chronicled the lives of the France's top young footballers during their time at the academy.[2] One intriguing moment during the series came when Ben Arfa got into an argument with Abou Diaby, who now plays for English club Arsenal. Ben Arfa made his professional debut on the opening match day of the 2004–05 season against Nice coming on as a substitute in the 68th minute. After making a few substitute appearances, he made his first start on 11 September 2004 in a 2–1 victory over Rennes, playing 56 minutes.[6] He scored his first professional goal two months later on 10 November in a Coupe de la Ligue match against Lille, converting from the penalty spot in extra time to give Lyon a 2–1 lead, though Lille then scored two late goals, beating Lyon 2–3. He also made his UEFA Champions League debut in a group stage match against Manchester United, coming on as a substitute for Sidney Govou. Despite rumors of a rift between himself and Karim Benzema, Ben Arfa signed a contract extension with Lyon in March 2008 until 2010. However, his career at Lyon ran into trouble after he got into a training scuffle with veteran Sébastien Squillaci. Ben Arfa officially joined Marseille on 1 July 2008 for €11 million with future incentives to be included later, after an agreement was reached between Marseille and Lyon in a meeting organized by the LFP.[19] As a result of the disagreement over the transfer, in December 2008, Ben Arfa told the French paper Le Progrès that his former team, Olympique Lyonnais, lacked class and was not a great team. Ben Arfa was presented to the media and had his first training session with the club the same day. He was given the number 20 shirt. On 16 July, Ben Arfa was involved in another training session scuffle, this time with stiker and France international Djibril Cissé. Cissé later joined English club Sunderland on loan. Ben Arfa switched to the number 10 shirt for the 2009–10 season and made his debut on the opening match day of the season in a 2–0 away victory over Grenoble appearing as a substitute in the 68th minute. The following week, he earned his first start of the season against Lille and assisted the game-winning goal scored by Brandão. Controversy surfaced again, however, when on 8 October 2009 Ben Arfa was fined €10,000 by the club for missing a training session. Ben Arfa blamed the absence on airport delays as he was in Tunisia visiting family members during the international break. Not considered a favourite of OM coach Didier Deschamps, there have been rumours for the last six months that the 22-year-old could leave the Stade Velodrome. Indeed, the Greek press appear convinced that the left-sided player could switch to Olympiacos this winter.

"Regarding the future of Hatem, three people are involved. Hatem, Michael Ouazine and myself," explained Jean-Jacques Bertrand.

"For now, we have not established contact with any club. But do not rule out a move. Maybe OM have had contact with interested clubs."

Ferguson has long tracked the enfant terrible of the French game, echoing back to his surprising move for Girondins de Bordeaux youngster Gabriel Obertan.

thanks to the mighty Wikipedia

I have got him coming to Lyon on a free at the end of my third season, so if he doesn't play well I can sell him

lol it's always worth it when the player is free . if he's cack then you just give him the boot

he has a massive pa on 08 i think

in the mid 180s

just like the overrated gourcouf

it's fair to say that since 2008 he hasn't done alot so he has been downgraded a bit .

he has a massive pa on 08 i think

in the mid 180s

just like the overrated gourcouf

Gourcuff?

Fella, get out of here.

Seriously, less wiki more FM. The point of player threads is to discuss yours and other people's experiences. Would much rather have a player thread were people discuss how player x performed for them then people just creating it to get it 'first.'

Seriously, less wiki more FM. The point of player threads is to discuss yours and other people's experiences. Would much rather have a player thread were people discuss how player x performed for them then people just creating it to get it 'first.'

Indeed. It would be passable with the addition of some personal feedback/discussion. As it is, this is just a copy/paste poorly presented wall-of-text unrelated to the game itself.

My personal input on the player in the game; I've not used the guy an awful lot, particularly in more recent versions.

For me, passing/finishing are both too low for him to be a top quality AMC, while he doesn't have high enough crossing to be a world-beating winger.

then people just creating it to get it 'first.'

I remember someone doing that when FM10 first came out

Ben Arfa is one hell of an inconsistent player to say the least, I forked out £6m I think it was for Portsmouth (which for us, is a hell of a lot), and one game he would be amazing and the next you wouldn't notice him on the pitch. (A certain Robinho in Real Life springs to mind).

This version, he is not good for big club...

I remember someone doing that when FM10 first came out

Ben Arfa is one hell of an inconsistent player to say the least, I forked out £6m I think it was for Portsmouth (which for us, is a hell of a lot), and one game he would be amazing and the next you wouldn't notice him on the pitch. (A certain Robinho in Real Life springs to mind).

Unlucky, I got him on a free for Lyon , been crap for me and I've been trying to offload him offered him out for £1mil but no offers

he has a massive pa on 08 i think

in the mid 180s

just like the overrated gourcouf

Gourcuff, overrated? Jog on.

Turned my County team for Relegation battlers to Euro challengers.

I bought him for about £18m in January in my first season for Man City and he was very poor, had the odd good game but I ended up selling for £12m in the summer. Good for a smaller team but not very good for a team trying to get into Europe imo.

jusy signed him on a free about 6 seasons in with a relegation battling premiership team, went through the previous campaign with no recognisable left winger so hoping he can solve the problem

Been very poor for me, yet to see him play a decent game.

keeps complaining that he's homesick waste of 4.5m

He was immense in FM09 tbh, would get a ridiculous amount of assists from open play. Not had him so far in FM10 though.

i had him at sheff wed got him on a free transfer. he avgerge highest stander i would say he best at is ufea cup level

I got him on my newcastle save. waste of 8million and sold him for 4million because i wanted rid of him badly

he enver settled, be-ratted me for fining him for red cards and poor performances and even after a leave of absence, he still hated it

one of the worst players ive signed easily. steer clear!

i got him for racing santdander... he was horrible... i wrote off the 20mil spent and ended up loaning him out for two seasons as i counldnt get a buyer!

PA downgraded a lot in 10.3

Which I think is a mistake, he is bags of talent still, they should make his hidden stats horrible though so without changing him much, he won't develope.

TBH i think its fair, his old PA is ridiculously high, amongst world class players...His new PA isnt that bad at all, just not world class anymore

But he's cheap now, OM wanted £4M at the start of 2nd season on 10.3

Yah, Ben Arfa might not be that bad a buy for a team like Sunderland.