Football
Ian Holyman, France correspondent 9y

Hatem Ben Arfa to leave Nice and may consider retiring, agent says

Hatem Ben Arfa's lawyer has told RMC the midfielder may consider quitting football after being refused the right to play for Nice.

After leaving Newcastle United by mutual consent in early January following a disappointing spell in England, Ben Arfa joined Nice looking to rebuild his career.

However, the 27-year-old has been refused the right to play for the Ligue 1 outfit with the French Football League (LFP), which ratifies contracts, ruling he would be breaking rules that do not allow players to feature for three clubs in a single season.

Ben Arfa, who has been training with Claude Puel's squad, and Nice have agreed to tear up the deal they signed last month, and the player's advisor, Jean-Jacques Bertrand, said the player may now hang up his boots.

"He can't not play competitively for seven months -- that's completely out of the question, unless he stops playing altogether," Bertrand said. "That's not out of the question for the moment, because he is quite distressed by what he considers to be persecution.

"Players can sometimes be a bit paranoid, people say, but he gets the feeling that people don't want to see him. In England, it's difficult. Here, he's done nothing wrong, and they don't want him to play. There comes a time when he has to ask himself the question.

"I have known others who have had the same idea during their career, and we are here to convince them they still have some great things to do in football. Now we have to look at what options he has to play elsewhere before August."

The French Football Federation (FFF) had asked FIFA whether Ben Arfa, having played for Newcastle's under-21 team in August and Hull City in the Premier League on loan, could feature for the Ligue 1 side.

Football's global governing body advised the FFF that Ben Arfa would be technically in breach of their regulations forbidding players to play for three clubs in the same campaign.

Despite the English FA telling their French counterparts they did not consider Ben Arfa's Newcastle appearance to be official, the former Marseille midfielder was told he would not be able to resurrect his career in his native country until August.

"The problem comes from the authorities, who -- regardless of the arguments put forward -- insist on saying the match was official," Bertrand said. "Everyone tells you that the law is the law, and the rule is the rule. They retreat behind that, and you can't do anything about it."

Ben Arfa and Nice will confirm the player's departure at a news conference on Tuesday.

"All the methods of appeal have fallen short -- it's pointless continuing," Bertrand said. "It's no longer possible, so he's going to say that he will leave the club while thanking them for the effort they made in bringing him back."

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