From the height of his 34 years, Hatem Ben Arfa has bounced back from the side of Lille. The former French international spoke for the first time as a Mastiff on Wednesday.
What a funny signature! Without a club since last summer, Hatem Ben Arfa was looking for a new base, he who had been chaining inconclusive adventures for years already. The former PSG and OM, among others, signed a six-month contract with the reigning French champion. He will wear the number 11. And inevitably, we were firmly awaiting the declarations of the principal concerned during this press conference of presentation, in particular to know the reasons which pushed him to sign in Lille and for him to make a update on its current form.
“Already, it is a club which is very ambitious, which has very good players, which really has a project. It’s very exciting to be able to participate in this project, that’s why I came”, he said, before confiding that Olivier Létang had indeed had a role to play in his arrival: “When he was no longer in Rennes, we continued to talk like that. I know that the president is a competitor, when he goes into a project it is to get the most out of it, so I have confidence. I too am very competitive, so of course I like it a lot ».
He is done!
He also let it be known that he is very hungry for the ball… “I’m a football lover, I didn’t want to go to leagues that were more non-football oriented, I’m mentally fresh, I want to get back into competition. My personal objective is to give the maximum to achieve our objectives, to give of myself for the team. […] There is no feeling of revenge, it’s a challenge that excites me a lot, if I chose Lille it’s because I know it’s becoming a very competitive club, that’s the most important to me”, explained the player.
Finally, he confided that he was in great physical shape: “I tried to keep a club rhythm, to have training structures, to touch the ball, indoors, outdoors, physically, in order to have work cycles and be ready to play in club. I had physical exchanges with my trainer to work as well as possible”. He also added that he does not yet know if this will be the last adventure of his career, or if he could extend for an additional year if it were to go well in the North, ensuring that he had never thought of the retirement. “It’s at the end of the ball that we pay the musicians”, he repeated twice when he was questioned about it… To see if the ball will be joyful and lively, or if it will quickly turn sour…
