Targeted by a procedure within his club, Friday April 8, Hatem Ben Arfa reacted sharply on social networks, addressing his coach, Jocelyn Gourvennec, but also its president Olivier Létang: “Are you talking about twisted? Whereas you and your president are the most twisted. Your problem is incompetence“, he wrote on his Instagram story on Friday afternoon. This reaction comes a few hours after he was sidelined by the group and a press conference by the Lille technician who spoke about the player’s situation.
Hatem Ben Arfa publicly tackles Jocelyn Gourcennec on Instagram! pic.twitter.com/lM9u0JpBMR
—Total Foot (@TotalFoot_) April 8, 2022
Following an altercation in the locker room with a teammate and staff members last Saturday, “the club has initiated a procedure which is in progress, explained Jocelyn Gourvennec. The president and the leaders intervened on this. The player was excused from training this week and I think the club will communicate once the procedure is advanced. After that, the legal department will handle it.”
“A player behaved inappropriately inside the locker room. It was difficult to understand and for me perhaps even more so, because I had a lot of affection for this player. But the president has a rule: we don’t touch the club, the team and the coachhe continued. In 34 years, I had never seen that in the middle of football.”
After nine games played in the Lille jersey, Hatem Ben Arfa sees his future in the North darken. “From my position as a coach, as a trainer, it is impossible to let go of something that can alter the unity of the team, the group, the locker room. For me there is no debate, because there is no there is nothing and no one above Losc”concluded Gourvennec.
At 35, the player trained in Lyon, 2004 European champion in U17 with the Benzema, Ménez and Nasri generation, had bounced back to Lille after his failed experience in Bordeaux. Olivier Létang, its president, had rubbed shoulders with him at PSG, and had also brought him to Rennes.